A ceasefire has come into effect in Sudan after US secretary of state Antony Blinken said the two opposing forces in its civil war had agreed a three-day pause in hostilities, writes The Guardian.

“Following intense negotiation over the past 48 hours, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have agreed to implement a nationwide ceasefire starting at midnight on 24 April, to last for 72 hours”, - Blinken said in a written statement issued two hours before the ceasefire started.

Previous attempted ceasefires have failed over the course of 10 days of fighting that has so far killed at least 427 people and wounded more than 3,700, according to UN agencies. Hours before Blinken’s announcement, the UN secretary-general, António Guterres, had warned that the fighting could “engulf the whole region and beyond”.

“We must all do everything within our power to pull Sudan back from the edge of the abyss”, - Guterres said.

Blinken’s announcement suggested that the three-day ceasefire was intended to lead to talks on a longer-term truce: “To support a durable end to the fighting, the United States will coordinate with regional and international partners, and Sudanese civilian stakeholders, to assist in the creation of a committee to oversee the negotiation, conclusion and implementation of a permanent cessation of hostilities and humanitarian arrangements in Sudan”.