This photo shows displaced women and children from el-Fasher at a camp where they sought refuge from fighting between government forces and the RSF, in Tawila, Darfur region, Sudan. AP
The announcement follows the paramilitaries' capture of the major city of El-Fasher, dislodging the army from its last stronghold in the vast western Darfur region.
They have since carried out mass killings, looting and sexual violence there and have in recent days appeared to turn their focus to the neighboring Kordofan region, which remains under army control.
"The Rapid Support Forces affirms its agreement to enter into the humanitarian truce proposed by the Quad countries," the RSF said in a statement, referring to the United States, Egypt, the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
The Sudanese government did not immediately comment on the RSF's announcement.
Earlier in the day, army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan had said his forces were "striving for the defeat of the enemy."
"Soon, we will avenge those who have been killed and abused... in all the regions attacked by the rebels," he said in a televised address.
The government had indicated earlier this week that it would press on with the war following an internal meeting on a ceasefire proposal.
The details of the mediators' proposal have not yet been made public, though a previous version put forward in September had called for a three-month humanitarian truce, followed by a permanent ceasefire and a nine-month transition to civilian rule that would have excluded both warring sides.
In its statement, the RSF said the ceasefire was needed "to address the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of the war" and to "ensure the urgent delivery of humanitarian assistance."
The same group has carried out widespread atrocities after seizing El-Fasher following an 18-month siege marked by starvation and bombardments.
'Mass graves'
Yale researchers reported new satellite imagery on Thursday that showed activity "consistent with mass graves" being dug in the city of El-Fasher.
The report identified "at least two earth disturbances consistent with mass graves at a mosque and the former Children's Hospital."
It also noted the appearance of meter-long trenches, as well as the disappearance of clusters of objects consistent with bodies near the hospital, the mosque and other parts of the city—indicating that bodies deposited around those areas were later moved.
"Body disposal or removal was also observed at Al-Saudi Hospital in satellite imagery," the report said.
The World Health Organization had reported the "tragic killing of more than 460 patients and medical staff" at that hospital during the city's takeover.
The fall of El-Fasher gave the RSF militia group control over all five state capitals in Darfur, raising fears that Sudan would effectively be partitioned along an east-west axis.
The militia—accused of genocide and crimes against humanity—now dominates Darfur and parts of the south. The Sudanese army holds the north, east and central regions along the Nile and Red Sea.
The conflict in Sudan, raging since April 2023, has pitted the forces of army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan against those of his former deputy, RSF commander Mohammed Hamdan Daglo.
It has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced millions more and created the world's largest displacement and hunger crisis, according to the UN.
*This story was edited by Ahram Online.
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