Leading Member of Taqaddum Calls for End to Sudan War

Smoke billows from fighting between the Sudanese army and RSF in Khartoum. (Reuters file photo)
Smoke billows from fighting between the Sudanese army and RSF in Khartoum. (Reuters file photo)
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Leading Member of Taqaddum Calls for End to Sudan War

Smoke billows from fighting between the Sudanese army and RSF in Khartoum. (Reuters file photo)
Smoke billows from fighting between the Sudanese army and RSF in Khartoum. (Reuters file photo)

Leading member of the Sudanese Coordination of Civil Democratic Forces (Taqaddum) and head of the Unionist Alliance Babiker Faisal Babiker urged the Sudanese warring parties to end the conflict and resolve disputes through negotiations “to save the country from the fate of others where wars have lasted decades.”

In an interview to Asharq Al-Awsat from Addis Ababa, he said: “I call on both parties to show determination to stop the war as soon as possible before it spirals out of their control.”

He called on the army and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to reach a “peaceful negotiated solution that safeguards our country and places it back on the path of the revolution and democratic civil transition.”

He recalled that before the eruption of the conflict last year and as a member of the Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC) liaison committee, he met with army commander Abdul Fattah al-Burhan for three hours on a Friday during which they agreed to ease the tensions in the country.

They also agreed to form a committee comprised of army, RSF and FFC members. The committee was set to meet the next day, Saturday, and withdraw army forces from Khartoum, Babiker went on to say.

After meeting with Burhan, the liaison committee then headed to meet with RSF commander Mohammed Hamdan Daglo at his home but couldn’t find him. It was instead met with his brother and deputy leader of the RSF Abdulrahman, who expressed his support for the agreement reached by the meeting hours earlier.

He pledged to take part in the meeting that was set for Saturday.

Babiker told Asharq Al-Awsat that he returned home after these meetings reassured that they had succeeded in defusing the tensions.

However, they were taken by surprise the next morning when an “armed group” surrounded the sports city - an RSF camp. The war erupted soon after.

Babiker said the group that fired the first shot “had an interest in thwarting the ‘framework agreement’ because it wanted to return to power.”

The agreement details the transition to a civilian democracy in Sudan.

Babiker added that a group “loyal to the Islamist movement and National Congress Party had made several threats about thwarting the transition and it then fired that first shot that sparked the war.”

Asked by Asharq Al-Awsat why the situation spiraled out of control, he replied: “We had to contend with several new factors when the war erupted, such as air strikes that have killed hundreds of people.”

“Every party then amassed its forces. The drive for war was difficult to contain,” he said.



US Says Israel Must Improve Gaza's Humanitarian Situation or Risk Aid

 People attempt to extinguish a fire at the site of an Israeli strike on tents sheltering displaced people, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
People attempt to extinguish a fire at the site of an Israeli strike on tents sheltering displaced people, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
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US Says Israel Must Improve Gaza's Humanitarian Situation or Risk Aid

 People attempt to extinguish a fire at the site of an Israeli strike on tents sheltering displaced people, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
People attempt to extinguish a fire at the site of an Israeli strike on tents sheltering displaced people, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Israel must take urgent steps to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza to avoid legal action involving US military aid, according to news reports on Tuesday.

"We are writing now to underscore the US government's deep concern over the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza, and seek urgent and sustained actions by your government this month to reverse this trajectory," they wrote in an Oct. 13 letter to their Israeli counterparts, posted by an Axios reporter on X, according to Reuters.

The State Department and Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Representatives for Israel's government also could not be immediately reached for comment.

The report comes as Israeli forces expand operations into northern Gaza amid ongoing concerns about access to humanitarian aid throughout the enclave and civilians' access to food, water and medicine.

US officials earlier this year said Israel may have violated international humanitarian law using US-supplied weapons during its military operation in Gaza.

This week's letter cited Section 620i of the Foreign Assistance Act, which restricts (prohibits) military aid to countries that impede delivery of US humanitarian assistance.

It also cited a National Security Memorandum that US President Joe Biden issued in February that requires the State Department to report to Congress on whether it finds credible Israel's assurances that its use of US weapons does not violate US or international law.