UNITED NATIONS, April 15. /TASS/. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called on all parties to the hostilities in Sudan for a ceasefire and a dialogue to resolve the conflict, the UN Secretary-General’s spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a statement on Saturday.

"The Secretary-General strongly condemns the outbreak of fighting between the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces in Sudan and calls on the leaders of the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces to immediately cease hostilities, restore calm and initiate a dialogue to resolve the current crisis. Any further escalation in the fighting will have a devastating impact on civilians and further aggravate the already precarious humanitarian situation in the country," the news release reads.

Guterres also called on UN countries in the region to support efforts to establish order and the transition of power in the country to civilian authorities.

The situation in Sudan has escalated due to disagreement between army commander Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who also heads the Sovereign Council (the country's governing body), and his deputy in the council, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti), the head of the rapid support force. On the morning of April 15, clashes broke out between the two forces near a military base in the city of Merowe and in the Sudanese capital Khartoum. According to Al-Jazeera TV, at least three civilians were killed in the clashes and dozens of others were wounded.