The two warring parties in Sudan have agreed “in principle” to begin withdrawing forces from some cities to allow the return of civilians, a senior US official said Tuesday, as international donors pledged hundreds of millions of dollars in humanitarian assistance for the war-torn country. 

Speaking at a US Department of State event for the Sudan Humanitarian Fund at the United States Institute of Peace on Tuesday, senior adviser for Africa at the State Department Massad Boulos said a United Nations-led mechanism to oversee the withdrawal of troops from priority cities "has been finalized" and could be formally adopted within days. 

Boulos said the UN now has a mechanism for withdrawing forces from certain priority cities to allow civilians to return safely. “We’ve agreed in principle with the parties to start withdrawing from some of these cities,” he said.

He said he hopes there will be a final text “in the coming hours … definitely this week.” He added that the US and its partners have been “closely engaging with the RSF; in principle, they are ready to proceed with the UN mechanism, especially in el-Fasher.”