Sudan crisis: RSF, army set to hold talks in Jeddah

As fighting continues to rage amid air strikes for the fourth week, Sudan’s warring parties Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and Army are set to engage in direct talks with each other in Jeddah on Saturday.

Since the outbreak of fierce fighting between Abdel Fattah al-Burhan-led army and his deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo's RSF, hundreds of people have been killed as a result without millions confined to homes.

Warplanes have also been engaged in targeting places in Khartoum. Multiple truces have been placed between the warring parties but it does not take long for either side to break it.

The United States and Saudi Arabia in a joint statement noted that “the army and RSF would hold direct discussions in Jeddah on Saturday”, describing them as "pre-negotiation talks".

The statement noted: "The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United States urge both parties to take into consideration the interests of the Sudanese nation and its people and actively engage in the talks toward a ceasefire and end to the conflict."

Officials from Sudan told AFP Saturday that “both sides were sending negotiators to Jeddah, but the RSF has yet to confirm through official channels that its representatives will attend.”

Despite Army saying its representatives are heading to Jeddah for talks, witnesses said warplanes pounded various parts of the Sudanese capital.

"The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United States urge both parties to take into consideration the interests of the Sudanese nation and its people and actively engage in the talks toward a ceasefire and end to the conflict," added the statement.

Army had confirmed Friday that it had sent envoys to Saudi Arabia to discuss "details of the truce in the process of being extended" with its paramilitary rival.

Burhan supported the seven-day ceasefire by South Sudan Wednesday but RSF said early Friday they were extending by three days a previous truce brokered under US-Saudi mediation.

The statement from US-Saudi also underlined the contribution of other organisations and countries to this weekend’s talks, including Britain, the United Arab Emirates, the League of Arab States, and the African Union among other groups.

Witnesses in Khortum reported continued airstrikes and explosions Friday near the airport.

The fierce struggle for supremacy continued even after the threat of sanctions from US President Joe Biden against those responsible for "threatening the peace, security, and stability of Sudan" and "undermining Sudan’s democratic transition".

Sudan had been under decades of sanctions while under the regime of autocrat Omar al-Bashir, who was ousted in a palace coup in 2019 following mass street protests.

Joe Biden said: "The violence taking place in Sudan is a tragedy — and it is a betrayal of the Sudanese people’s clear demand for civilian government and a transition to democracy. It must end."

The coup against Bashir in 2019 was plotted by Burhan and Daglo derailing a transition to democratic rule that had been painstakingly stitched together. However, they locked their horns against each other over the issue of integration of RSF into the army.