Sudan Troops End Truce Negotiation With Paramilitia Groups
A government official told AFP on Wednesday that the Sudanese army has ceased taking part in ceasefire negotiations with its paramilitary adversaries that are being mediated by the US and Saudi Arabia.
The army made the choice, the Sudanese official said, speaking under condition of anonymity, “because the rebels have repeatedly violated the truce and have never implemented a single one of the provisions of a short-term ceasefire which required their withdrawal from hospitals and residential buildings”.
Late on Monday, US and Saudi mediators announced that the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) had agreed to prolong a humanitarian ceasefire by five days after repeatedly breaking it the week prior.
However, in spite of their promises, fighting broke out once more on Tuesday in both greater Khartoum and the volatile western province of Darfur.
During a visit to troops in the capital on Tuesday, army leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan said, “The army is ready to fight until victory.”
The RSF, under the leadership of Burhan’s former deputy and adversary Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, declared they would “exercise their right to defend themselves” and charged the army with breaking the cease-fire.
According to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, at over 1,800 people have died since violence broke out between the opposing security forces on April 15.
According to the UN, over a million people have been internally displaced, and close to 350,000 have fled to other countries, including over 170,000 who went to Egypt.
According to the UN, 25 million people, or more than half the population, currently need assistance and protection.
Three quarters of hospitals in conflict zones are inoperable, and entire areas of Khartoum no longer have access to running water or electricity.
The main civilian coalition overthrown from power by Burhan and Daglo in a coup in 2021 before the two brothers fell out forewarned that Sudan may devolve into “total civil war.”
