CAIRO, April 18. /TASS/. Sudan’s army is unaware of any agreements on a humanitarian pause involving international mediators, the armed forces said on Tuesday.

"We are unaware of any ceasefire agreements involving mediators and the international community, while the rebels’ move to announce a 24-hour pause is aimed at covering the devastating defeat they will suffer within a few hours," an army spokesperson said in a statement on Facebook (banned in Russia due to its ownership by Meta, which has been designated as extremist in Russia).

"We have entered a critical stage and our efforts are focused on achieving its goals at the operational level," the statement added.

Chief of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo (Hamidti) said earlier on Tuesday that he had held a conversation with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, discussing a temporary humanitarian ceasefire. Dagalo reaffirmed the RSF’s "approval of a 24 HR armistice to ensure the safe passage of civilians and the evacuation of the wounded." However, he noted that the country’s Armed Forces had "failed to honor this ceasefire, bombing densely populated areas from the air and endangering civilian lives."

On April 16, the Sudanese army accepted the United Nations’ proposal to open humanitarian corridors for three hours every day. The Rapid Support Forces, in turn, said that they were ready to respect four-hour daily humanitarian pauses. However, both parties reserved the right to respond to provocations. However, they failed to fulfill their promises. The Central Committee of Sudan Doctors said that it was still unable to evacuate and treat the wounded.

The situation in Sudan escalated because of disagreements between Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, head of Sudan’s ruling Sovereignty Council and army chief, and RSF commander Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo (Hamidti), who is his deputy in the council. On April 15, clashes broke out between the two groups near a military base in the city of Merowe and in the capital of Khartoum. According to the latest data, more than 180 civilians have been killed in the fighting, and over 1,800 have suffered casualties.