Sudan paramilitary RSF to attend Jeddah talks with armed forces

WASHINGTON - Envoys from Sudan’s warring military factions – the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) – were in Jeddah for talks on Saturday, Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister said, as international mediators pressed for an end to the three-week-old conflict.

The US-Saudi initiative is the first serious attempt to end three weeks of fighting that has turned parts of the Sudanese capital Khartoum into war zones and derailed an internationally backed plan to usher in civilian rule following years of unrest and uprisings.

Riyadh and Washington earlier welcomed the “pre-negotiation talks” between the Sudanese army and the RSF, and urged them to actively engage following numerous violated ceasefires. 

But both sides have made it clear they would discuss only a humanitarian truce, not negotiate an end to the war.

Confirming his group’s attendance, RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, said he hoped the talks would achieve their intended aim of securing safe passage for civilians. 

Sudan’s armed forces sent a delegation to the Red Sea city on Friday evening, but special envoy Dafallah Alhaj said the army would not sit down directly with any delegation that the “rebellious” RSF might send. 

General Hemedti has meanwhile vowed to either capture or kill army leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and there was evidence on the ground that both sides remain unwilling to make compromises to end the bloodshed. 

Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan said in a tweet that he hoped both sides would “engage in dialogue that we hope will lead to the end of the conflict”.

In the city of Bahri across the Nile from Khartoum, warplanes were heard overnight and explosions startled residents. “We don’t leave the house because we are scared of stray bullets,” said a local who gave his name as Ahmed. 

An eyewitness in eastern Khartoum reported gun clashes and air strikes over residential areas on Saturday. The Turkish ambassador’s car also came under fire from unknown assailants, a Turkish diplomatic source said. The envoy was safe inside the embassy. 

The conflict erupted on April 15, following the collapse of an internationally backed plan for a transition to democracy. 

Gen Burhan, a career army officer, heads a ruling council installed after a 2021 military coup and the 2019 ouster of long-time autocrat Omar al-Bashir, while Gen Hemedti, a former militia leader who made his name leading militias in the Darfur conflict, is his deputy.

Prior to the fighting, Gen Hemedti had been taking steps – such as moving closer to a civilian party – that suggest he has big political plans. Gen Burhan has blamed the war on his “ambitions”.

Western powers have backed the transition to a civilian government in a country that sits at a strategic crossroads between Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and Africa’s volatile Sahel region. 

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said he is travelling to Saudi Arabia on Saturday for talks with Saudi leaders. 

Saudi Arabia has had close ties to Gen Burhan and Gen Hemedti, both of whom sent troops to help the Saudi-led coalition in its war against the Houthi group in Yemen.

The kingdom is also focused on security in the Red Sea, which it shares with Sudan. 

The United Nations has significantly cut back its operations in Sudan after three of its employees were killed and its warehouses were looted in the fighting, and sought guarantees of safe passage of humanitarian aid. 

The fighting has impacted vital infrastructure and caused the closure of most hospitals in conflict areas. UN agencies have warned of a major humanitarian catastrophe if fighting continues. 

On Saturday, the World Health Organisation said 30 tonnes of medical supplies had arrived in Port Sudan by plane, one of the first such shipments since the fighting began. 

A group of countries led by Britain, the United States, Germany and Norway is set to request a UN Human Rights Council meeting on Sudan next week, a document showed on Friday. REUTERS