“This positive step means that families will be celebrating Eid-al Adha with their loved ones,” Jean Christophe Sandoz, ICRC’s head of delegation in Sudan, said in a statement. “We stand ready to act as a neutral intermediary for the release of detainees from all sides to the conflict whenever requested.”

The Red Cross said it was the second time this week it helped get soldiers released. On Monday, the agency was involved in the release of 14 wounded people detained in Al Fasher, Darfur.

The agency said it has been working as an intermediary between the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces to evacuate people injured during the conflict between the warring factions.

Through its dialogue with all parties to the conflict, the ICRC’s role is to ensure that humanitarian principles are respected and that detainees are treated with humanity throughout the release and transfer process,” the Red Cross said.

Sudan for years teetered on the precipice of war instability since the military ousted the country’s former three-decade dictator government of President Omar al-Bashir in a civilian-backed coup in 2019.

Former allies in that coup — Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, head of the SAF, and his deputy, RSF head Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo– and their followers failed to maintain peace in the country because of infighting.

That turned into the current bloody conflict that started on April 15, forcing nearly 1.9 million people to be displaced and nearly 25 million in need of assistance, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.