2023-05-06 16:31:24
As the Sudanese army and the paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) continue to engage in heavy fighting, the Saudi foreign minister has indicated that delegations from both sides are due to participate in talks in the Saudi city of Jeddah on Saturday on the shores of the Red Sea.
No respite in Sudan. Fighting rages on Saturday May 6 in Khartoum as the army and paramilitaries fighting for power are due to discuss a new truce in Saudi Arabia.
As every day since April 15, the inhabitants of the capital live to the rhythm of the bombardments, without water or electricity and with very few reserves of food and money.
While Americans and Saudis assure that soldiers and paramilitaries intend to discuss a truce, the two camps mutually accused each other on Saturday of having attacked the Turkish ambassador’s convoy in Khartoum without specifying whether the attack had caused casualties.
Witnesses report to AFP that the army of General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane carries out air raids in various districts of Khartoum, including that of Riyadh – which takes its name from the Saudi capital -, a few hours before the start in Jeddah , another Saudi city, of negotiations between its representatives and those of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of rival general Mohamed Hamdane Daglo.
“Pre-negotiation discussions”
“The army delegation will only talk about the truce and how to properly implement it to facilitate humanitarian access to people,” army spokesman General Nabil Abdallah told AFP. For days, officially, a truce has continued to be extended to be violated within minutes of its entry into force.
The United States and Saudi Arabia, which now seem to be maneuvering diplomatically, spoke of “pre-negotiation discussions”, urging the belligerents to “be actively involved” for a ceasefire. But the two countries have still not announced whether these discussions have started.
Before waging this merciless war, Generals Burhane and Daglo had led a putsch together in 2021 which had ousted civilians from power and put an end to the democratic transition, which began after the fall of dictator Omar el-Bashir in 2019.
Former civilian minister Khaled Omar Youssef, sacked during the putsch, said he hoped for a “comprehensive political solution” but the two camps have been repeating for days that no political component is planned immediately.
The two generals were, from the start of the war, violently insulted by the media and both ensured that they no longer wanted to speak to each other directly.
According to Sudanese officials, the FSR will be represented by relatives of General Daglo and his powerful brother Abderrahim, who passes for the financier of the FSR with his gold mines.
Read also Who are the FSR, these paramilitaries opposed to the army in Sudan?
On the army side, senior officers known for their hostility to the FSR will be present, according to these same sources.
The Saudis are great allies and backers of both sides in Sudan. And the United States has enabled Sudan to return to the concert of nations by lifting two decades of sanctions in 2020.
These two countries seem to want to take precedence over regional initiatives. Igad, the East African bloc, is also trying to bring the generals back to the negotiating table through South Sudan, a historic mediator in Sudan.
The African Union lost its leverage when it suspended Sudan after the 2021 putsch, experts say.
As for the Arab League, it must meet on Sunday the foreign ministers of its member countries, deeply divided on Sudan.
Sudanese without telephones
On the ground, the fighting, which is entering its fourth week, has claimed some 700 lives, according to the NGO Acled, which lists the victims of conflicts. They also left 5,000 injured, 335,000 displaced and 115,000 refugees, according to the UN.
On Friday, they also killed 12 civilians in El-Obeid, 300 km south of the capital, according to the doctors’ union.
Beyond the direct victims, this conflict is increasing hunger, a scourge that already affected a third of the 45 million Sudanese. According to the UN, between 2 and 2.5 million additional people could suffer from acute malnutrition within six months if the fighting continues.
For the experts, the war will be long as the two belligerents seem to have the same combat capacities and to be reluctant to engage in political negotiations before having won on the ground.
The Sudanese, they still live barricaded for fear of stray bullets, under crushing heat and now largely deprived of telephones: the operator MTN has announced the cessation of its services because it can no longer supply its generators with fuel.
In Darfur, in the western border of Chad, civilians were armed to participate in clashes mixing soldiers, paramilitaries and tribal or rebel fighters, according to the UN.
Nearly 200 people were killed there, according to the NGO Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).
In Port Sudan, on the coast spared from the violence, the UN and a growing number of NGOs are trying to negotiate the delivery of aid shipments to Khartoum and Darfur, where hospitals and humanitarian stocks have been looted and bombed.
With AFP
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