no progress on ceasefire in Saudi Arabia talks

2023-11-07 21:53:38

Talks in Sudan, which resumed at the end of October in Saudi Arabia, failed to achieve a ceasefire. Both sides simply reaffirmed the need to improve access to humanitarian aid, Riyadh said on Tuesday. The war between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has left more than 9,000 dead since April 15

Published on : 07/11/2023 – 22:53

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The parties to the conflict in Sudan who resumed their talks at the end of October in Saudi Arabia failed to agree on a ceasefire, contenting themselves with reaffirming the need to improve access to humanitarian aid, Riyadh said Tuesday, November 7.

“The mediators regret that the parties were unable to agree on a ceasefire during this first round, believing that there cannot be a military solution to this conflict,” reported the media agency. Saudi official press.

Started on April 15, the war between the Sudanese army, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane, and the Rapid Support Forces (FSR, paramilitary) of General Mohamed Hamdane Daglo, left more than 9,000 dead according to an estimate from the NGO Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (Acled), considered to be largely underestimated. It also displaced more than six million people and destroyed most infrastructure.

Read alsoBehind the violence in Sudan, an “existential” conflict between two military leaders

Talks between the belligerents resumed on October 26 in the Saudi city of Jeddah. They aimed “to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid, establish ceasefires and other confidence-building measures, and move towards a permanent cessation of hostilities,” according to Riyadh. Previous attempts at mediation resulted in only brief truces that were systematically violated.

In this new round of talks, the two sides agreed to work with the UN “to overcome obstacles to the delivery of humanitarian aid”, according to the Saudi Press Agency. They also agreed on “confidence-building measures”, including the arrest of people who had escaped from prison, a possible reference to the main leaders of the ousted regime of Omar al-Bashir who escaped from detention centers at the start of the war and joined the army.

The head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken was alarmed last Thursday by information about an “imminent and large-scale attack” by Sudanese paramilitaries in El-Facher, capital of North Darfur (west). The FSR intend to reign supreme in Darfur, where the UN suspects a possible new “genocide” after that carried out in the early 2000s by their ancestor, the Janjawids, on behalf of Omar al-Bashir.

On Tuesday, a major fire broke out at an RSF-controlled oil refinery north of the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. The paramilitaries blamed it on an airstrike by the army, which for its part cited “a fuel tank belonging to the militia having exploded”.