The Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs affirmed the army delegation’s readiness to return to the Jeddah negotiations as soon as the Saudi and American mediators managed to overcome the obstacles that prevented the continuation of the talks.
The army delegation withdrew from the negotiations on Wednesday, accusing the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of obstructing an agreement to end the hostilities, because of its refusal to evacuate homes and service facilities. For its part, the RSF attributed the faltering of the agreement to the army delegation’s condition to open a safe passage for the exit of its commanders besieged in military headquarters in Khartoum.
In the statement, the Foreign Ministry expressed Sudan’s desire to reach a just agreement to stop hostilities, which would pave the way for discussing the post-war phase.
“The Foreign Ministry renews its appreciation for the efforts made by Saudi Arabia and the United States to facilitate the rounds of negotiations in Jeddah, and their keenness to make them a success,” it said, adding that the intransigence of the Rapid Support Forces and their non-compliance with the implementation of their obligations were the reason behind the failure of the Jeddah negotiations, which prompted the army delegation to return to the country.
The RSF commander, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as “Hemedti”, stressed that the war would end if the current army leadership stepped down.
The RSF claims that it is besieging the army commander, Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, his deputy, Lieutenant General Shams al-Din Kabashi, and senior officers at the main headquarters of the army command, in the center of the capital, Khartoum. Al-Burhan and Al-Kabashi appeared more than once in the vicinity of the place in video recordings.
On the other hand, Vice-President of the Sovereignty Council Malik Agar, accused the RSF of committing heinous crimes against civilians, pointing to the targeting of some ethnic groups in the Darfur region.
Addressing the Russian-African summit in St. Petersburg, Agar blamed the RSF for the current crisis in Sudan, saying that the group launched an all-out war on the capital and some cities, causing heinous crimes and unprecedented human suffering.