Sudan’s warring rivals resume peace talks in Saudi Arabia
Amid continued violence in Sudan, warring rivals — the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) — announced that their delegations had arrived in Saudi Arabia’s port city of Jeddah to resume a fresh round of peace talks.
Since April 15, the SAF and the RSF have engaged in deadly clashes in capital Khartoum and other areas, resulting in at least 3,000 deaths and more than 6,000 injuries, Xinhua news agency.
The Jeddah peace talks were suspended in July over fundamental differences between the warring parties.
But a statement on Wednesday, the Armed Forces said: “Based on the SAF’s belief that negotiation is one of the means that may end the war, we accepted the invitation to go to Jeddah to complete what was previously agreed upon, which is the full implementation of the Jeddah Declaration, to facilitate the humanitarian work and the return of our citizens and normal life to the cities where the rebels wreaked havoc looting, burning, random bombing and raping.”
It stressed that the resumption of talks does not mean the cessation of armed confrontations against the RSF.
On its part, the paramilitary force said in a statement on Wednesday that “in response to the invitation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the US to resume negotiations, our negotiating delegation arrived in Jeddah today”.
“We hope that the other party will show credibility, realism, and the will to reach a solution that will stop the war and end the suffering of our people,” the statement said.
The RSF further expressed willingness to reach a peaceful settlement for the conflict and achieve the aspirations of the people in building the Sudanese state on new foundations and rebuilding one professional national army.
Since May 6, Saudi Arabia and the US have brokered negotiations between the Sudanese warring parties in Jeddah.
Several truces have been reached and breached since then, with the two sides accusing each other of violating them.
According to the UN International Organization for Migration, nearly 5.8 million people have been displaced inside and outside Sudan due to the prolonged conflict.