Representatives of the Sudanese army have returned to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to resume negotiations with the paramilitaries, a government source said on Saturday, as the war between two rival generals enters its fourth month.
Since April 15, the fighting between the army, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane, and the paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces (FSR) of General Mohamed Hamdane Daglo, have left at least 3,000 dead, according to the NGO Acled, specializing in information gathering in conflict zones.
Several ceasefires have been agreed in recent months under the aegis of the United States and Saudi Arabia, but Saudi and American mediators adjourned negotiations in June after the ceasefires were systematically broken. violated.
“A delegation of the armed forces has returned to Jeddah to resume negotiations with the rebels of the Rapid Support Forces,” a government source told AFP on condition of anonymity, not being authorized to speak to the media.
The FRS did not immediately comment on the resumption of negotiations.
This delegation to Saudi Arabia marks the return of the army to the diplomatic front, after having boycotted peace talks in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, organized by the regional bloc of East Africa (Igad) on Monday. The Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had accused Kenya, which chairs Igad, of supporting the FSR.
Not a day off
Before the Jeddah talks were suspended, US mediators grew increasingly frustrated with the two sides’ reluctance to work towards a lasting truce.
Experts believe that the two rival generals opted for a war of attrition, hoping to achieve a military victory, rather than negotiations.
Since the beginning of the conflict, the inhabitants of Khartoum have not gone a single day without their homes shaking under airstrikes, artillery fire and shootings.
According to a latest UN report, 1.7 million people have fled the capital. Millions more have been stuck at home for fear of being caught in the crossfire of brutal urban warfare.
Witnesses on Saturday reported “clashes with all kinds of weapons” in northwest Khartoum, as well as army airstrikes in the south.
Others said that RSF drones targeted the largest military hospital in the capital, while the majority of health facilities in combat zones are out of service.
According to the Ministry of Health, four civilians were killed and four others “seriously injured” in this attack.
Difficult access to help
Most of the clashes are taking place in the capital and in Darfur (west), where a quarter of the 48 million Sudanese live and where the fighting has taken on an “ethnic dimension”, according to the UN.
On Thursday, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced in a report to the UN Security Council the opening of a war crimes investigation in Sudan, after the discovery of a mass grave containing 87 bodies. in Darfur.
New fronts have also sporadically opened up, notably in the south of the country, where witnesses said a rebel group took control of a military base in South Kordofan state on Friday.
Those who manage to flee the combat zones are not, however, safe from danger.
Three months into the crisis, “battle lines are hardening, making it even more difficult to reach the millions of people in need of urgent humanitarian assistance,” said UN official Martin Griffiths on Saturday. for humanitarian affairs.
He again called for safe passage for help. “We cannot replenish stocks of food, water and medicine if the outrageous looting of these stocks continues,” he added.
According to the UN, the conflict has already left more than 2.4 million internally displaced and another 740,000 people have fled to countries neighboring Sudan, many of whom are themselves facing economic crises or to political instability.
The seven neighboring countries of Sudan met Thursday in Cairo to ask for help.