CAIRO, April 27. /TASS/. The Armed Forces of Sudan agree to prolong the ceasefire, introduced for humanitarian purposes, for additional 72 hours, the Armed Forces spokesman announced Thursday.

"The Armed Forces command agreed to prolong the ceasefire for additional 72 hours, which will start once the current ceasefire is over," the Armed Forces said on social media." The Armed Forces expressed hope that "the rebels will comply with the ceasefire requirements this time, instead of violating it, as it happened previously."

The current ceasefire, mediated by Saudi Arabia and the US, expires at midnight (local time). The sides of the conflict agreed to it on April 24, but the humanitarian pause was repeatedly interrupted by clashes.

The situation in Sudan escalated amid disagreements between the army chief, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who also heads the ruling Sovereignty Council, and the head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (known as Hemedti), who is al-Burhan’s deputy on the council.

The main points of contention between the two military organizations pertain to the timeline and methods for unifying the armed forces of Sudan, as well as who should be appointed as commander-in-chief of the army: a career military officer, which is al-Burhan’s preferred option, or an elected civilian president, as Dagalo insists.

On April 15, armed clashes between the rival military factions erupted near a military base in Merowe and in the capital, Khartoum.