The belligerents in Sudan signed an agreement on Thursday evening May 11 to allow humanitarian assistance, negotiations continuing to reach a ceasefire, according to American officials.

After six days of negotiations, emissaries from General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane's army and paramilitaries from General Mohamed Hamdane Daglo's Rapid Support Forces (RSF) signed this "Jeddah declaration for the protection of civilians in Sudan” . The agreement calls for clearing corridors to allow trapped civilians to exit combat zones while allowing humanitarian aid to enter.

This declaration of principle is contained in a four-page document, a copy of which AFP was able to consult, which contains no mention of a truce or a ceasefire, after nearly a month of fighting which left more than 750 dead, 5,000 injured and more than 900,000 displaced and refugees.

At least 18 aid workers have been killed so far trying to help a traumatized population. For four weeks, millions of Sudanese, mainly in Khartoum and Darfur, in Chad's western border, have been barricaded in their homes, surviving sweltering heat without running water or electricity for fear of going out and being mowed down by a lost bullet. Everywhere, food and money are running out and the UN is warning of soaring hunger, a scourge that has long afflicted Sudan, one of the poorest countries in the world.