Sudan: Conflicting Statements over the Jeddah Negotiations

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah Al-Saud stands along with other officials as representatives of the Sudanese army and rival Rapid Support Forces sign an agreement for a seven-day ceasefire in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, May 20, 2023. Saudi Press Agency/Handout via REUTERS
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah Al-Saud stands along with other officials as representatives of the Sudanese army and rival Rapid Support Forces sign an agreement for a seven-day ceasefire in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, May 20, 2023. Saudi Press Agency/Handout via REUTERS
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Sudan: Conflicting Statements over the Jeddah Negotiations

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah Al-Saud stands along with other officials as representatives of the Sudanese army and rival Rapid Support Forces sign an agreement for a seven-day ceasefire in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, May 20, 2023. Saudi Press Agency/Handout via REUTERS
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah Al-Saud stands along with other officials as representatives of the Sudanese army and rival Rapid Support Forces sign an agreement for a seven-day ceasefire in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, May 20, 2023. Saudi Press Agency/Handout via REUTERS

The Sudanese Army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) issued conflicting statements over the talks in Jeddah, while the Saudi and American mediators are running the process very discreetly.

The army denied reaching any new truce, describing the statements about progress made in this regard as inaccurate.

Reports by sources, who are informed of the course of negotiations, had confirmed that the two sides reached understandings that could lead to the cessation of hostilities and a lasting truce in Sudan.

Sudanese Armed Forces Spokesman Brigadier General Nabil Abdallah said that reports about an “alleged truce” were incorrect, pointing that the Army negotiating team was still in Sudan and that the talks were still halted.

His comments came in response to statements by the Freedom and Change coalition, about an imminent ceasefire between the two sides, which would last for 60 days.

Last week, the Sudanese Army announced that its delegation has returned from Jeddah on July 26, and that it was ready to resume the talks when obstacles are removed, pointing to ongoing disputes over essential points, including the evacuation of citizens’ homes, services facilities, hospitals and roads.

For its part, the RSF stressed that its delegation would stay in Jeddah, attributing 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.

The city of Jeddah has been hosting for three months direct and indirect talks between Sudan’s warring parties, with Saudi-American mediation.

The negotiations led to the signing of a number of agreements, including a humanitarian declaration, which the parties failed to implement.

The conflict has seen more than 3 million people uprooted, including more than 700,000 who have fled to neighboring countries.



Lebanon Considers Any Remaining Israeli Presence on its Lands an Occupation, Urges UN Action

An Israeli army Merkava main battle tank is deployed by the concrete border wall at a position along Israel's northern border with Lebanon on February 18, 2025. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP)
An Israeli army Merkava main battle tank is deployed by the concrete border wall at a position along Israel's northern border with Lebanon on February 18, 2025. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP)
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Lebanon Considers Any Remaining Israeli Presence on its Lands an Occupation, Urges UN Action

An Israeli army Merkava main battle tank is deployed by the concrete border wall at a position along Israel's northern border with Lebanon on February 18, 2025. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP)
An Israeli army Merkava main battle tank is deployed by the concrete border wall at a position along Israel's northern border with Lebanon on February 18, 2025. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP)

Lebanon will consider any remaining Israeli presence on its lands an occupation and has the right to use all means to ensure an Israeli withdrawal, a spokesperson for the Lebanese presidency said on Tuesday.

The statement came as the deadline for the US-brokered ceasefire that halted last year's war between Israel and Hezbollah ended on Tuesday with Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz confirming that troops remained in "five positions" in south Lebanon.

Israeli forces withdrew from border villages in southern Lebanon, but Katz said the military "will remain in a buffer zone in Lebanon with five control positions, and will continue to act forcefully and uncompromisingly against any Hezbollah violation.”

However, Lebanon's three top officials — the country's president, prime minister and parliament speaker — in a joint statement said that Israel’s continued presence on the five points was in violation of the ceasefire agreement. They called on the UN Security Council to take action to force a complete Israeli withdrawal.
“The continued Israeli presence in any inch of Lebanese territory is an occupation, with all the legal consequences that result from that according to international legitimacy,” the statement said.

Hezbollah began firing rockets across the border on Oct. 8, 2023, one day after a deadly Hamas-led incursion into southern Israel sparked the war in Gaza. Israel responded with shelling and airstrikes in Lebanon, and the two sides became locked in an escalating conflict that became a full-blown war last September.

More than 4,000 people were killed in Lebanon and more than 1 million displaced at the height of the conflict.