The Saudi Foreign Minister, Faisal bin Barhan, welcomed the representatives of the Sudanese Army and the Rapid Support Forces (FAR) paramilitary group in the coastal city of Jeddah to start a dialogue that begins this Saturday. The Riyadh-Washington initiative is the first serious attempt to end hostilities since the start of the conflict in Sudan three weeks ago.
Bin Farhan recalled that this dialogue is the result of "international collaboration" with the United States and other countries in charge of mediating in the conflict, such as South Sudan. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan was traveling to Jeddah to join talks with Saudi leaders.
Until now, the content of the talks is unknown, who are the representatives of both delegations and the period of time that the process will last in Saudi Arabia.
The office of the leader of the FAR, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, commonly known as Hemedti, indicated that the talks will revolve around reaching "a ceasefire agreement, under the supervision of international observers." "We can also discuss a mechanism to monitor the ceasefire," the sources said, without elaborating. Likewise, he was confident that the dialogue will achieve the intended objective of guaranteeing safe passage for civilians.
However, Dagalo also earlier vowed to capture or kill army leader Abdelfatah al-Burhan, while there was evidence on the ground that both sides remained unwilling to make compromises to end the bloodshed. Both leaders will not meet face to face in the negotiations.
Today is the third day of a week-long truce in Sudan, sponsored by its neighbor and main mediator, South Sudan, which asked to take advantage of these seven days to hold peace talks. However, this truce, like previous humanitarian pauses agreed upon since the start of hostilities, has not been honored.
At least 551 people have been killed, including 190 children, and nearly 5,000 injured in the three weeks of fighting, according to the latest UN count. Clashes between the military and paramilitaries have turned parts of the Sudanese capital Khartoum into a war zone and derailed an internationally-backed plan to install civilian rule after years of riots and popular uprisings that brought down dictator Omar. al Bashir in April 2019.
Saudi Arabia has had close ties with Burhan and Dagalo, who sent troops to help the Riyadh-led coalition in its war against the Houthis in Yemen. The kingdom is also focused on security in the Red Sea, which it shares with Sudan.
The UN has significantly scaled back its operations in Sudan after three of its staff were killed and its warehouses looted, and sought guarantees of safe passage for humanitarian aid. The fighting has also affected vital infrastructure and caused the closure of most hospitals in conflict zones. UN agencies have warned of a humanitarian catastrophe if fighting continues.
The World Health Organization said on Saturday it had delivered medical aid to Port Sudan but was awaiting security and access clearances that prevented several of those shipments from reaching Khartoum, where the few operating hospitals are running out of supplies.
