Talks in Jeddah between representatives of Sudan’s army-backed government and US officials have ended without agreement on the army’s participation in ceasefire negotiations with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Geneva later this week.
On Thursday, the Port Sudan government dispatched a delegation to Riyadh, where it held consultations over two days with US Special Envoy for Sudan Tom Perriello.
In a statement on Facebook, Minister of Minerals Mohammed Abu Nimo said: “In my capacity as head of the government delegation in the consultative meetings with the Americans in the city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, I announce the end of the consultations without agreement on the participation of the Sudanese delegation in the Geneva negotiations...”
Informed sources said that the government’s representatives emphasized the need to exclude the Intergovernmental Authority for Development (IGAD) and the United Arab Emirates from the process.
Other points of contention, according to the same sources, included the Sudanese delegation’s refusal that participation in the negotiations be in the name of the government and not the army. It also demanded that the process be launched by implementing the “Jeddah Humanitarian Declaration” before engaging into any other talks.
“The matter of Sudan's participation is now left to the leadership [army chief Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan] and its assessment,” Abu Nimo said in his statement.
“There certainly are many details that prompted us to decide to end the consultations without an agreement,” he added without elaborating.
In late July, the United States invited the warring parties – the army and RSF - to hold talks in Geneva to reach a ceasefire under Saudi-Swiss auspices, and in the presence of observers from the African Union, IGAD, the UAE, and Egypt.
