By Nafisa Eltahir
CAIRO (Reuters) -Rival Sudanese political factions formally attended reconciliation talks in Cairo on Saturday, the primary since a battle within the nation started nearly 15 months in the past, however admitted there was little prospect of rapidly ending the struggle.
Through the convention the Democratic Bloc, which is aligned with the military, refused to carry joint periods with Taqaddum faction, which it accuses of sympathising with the Speedy Help Forces (RSF). Neither the military nor the RSF attended.
The struggle in Sudan, which erupted in April 2023, has pressured nearly 10 million folks from their properties, sparked warnings of famine and waves of ethnically-driven violence blamed largely on the RSF.
The drive this week swept by means of the state of Sennar, inflicting new displacement. In response, military head Basic Abdel Fattah al-Burhan mentioned the military wouldn’t negotiate with the RSF or its supporters.
“The stark deterioration in the humanitarian situation and the catastrophic consequences of this crisis, call on all of us to work to immediately and sustainably to stop military operations,” mentioned newly-appointed Egyptian overseas minister Badr Abdelatty.
Talks in Jeddah between the military and RSF that had been sponsored by the US and Saudi Arabia broke down on the finish of final yr.
Taqaddum is a coalition of pro-democracy events, armed teams, and civil society that has referred to as for an finish to the struggle. The military-aligned Democratic Bloc contains a number of armed group leaders taking part within the preventing.
Whereas Egypt was in a position to wield its affect to assemble the group, the primary attendees had been seated at reverse sides of the corridor on the convention’s opening.
The 2 political factions agreed solely to kind a small subcommittee to provide you with a ultimate communique calling for an finish to the struggle, which three Democratic Bloc leaders with forces preventing alongside the military didn’t signal.
“We told them [the Egyptians] not to have high ambitions for this meeting,” Finance Minister Jibril Ibrahim informed Reuters. He together with Darfur governor Minni Minawi and Sovereign Council deputy Malik Agar didn’t signal the communique.
“Given the situation on the ground, if we sit and eat and drink and laugh with the people who are allied and partners in the crimes that are happening we would be sending the wrong message to our citizens and to our soldiers,” he mentioned.
He added that an finish to the struggle was not reasonable with out the withdrawal of the RSF from civilian areas, in keeping with an settlement signed in Jeddah final yr, and the tip of fabric help to the RSF by the United Arab Emirates. U.N. specialists have mentioned that accusations of such help are credible although the UAE has denied them.
Former Prime Minister and Taqaddum head Abdalla Hamdok rejected accusations that the coalition was linked to the RSF, saying he awaited the military’s settlement to fulfill.
“A crisis this complicated and deep is not expected to end in one meeting… The lesson is for us to be patient and to build on anything positive that comes out of it,” he informed Reuters, echoing sentiments from diplomats on the assembly.
U.S. Particular Envoy Tom Perriello mentioned he hoped momentum from Saturday’s talks would keep it up to a different assembly referred to as by the African Union subsequent week, one other of a number of overlapping initiatives.
