The United States insisted Monday it would press ahead with convening ceasefire talks this week on the devastating conflict in Sudan, even if the Sudanese government is a no-show.
War has raged since April 2023 between the Sudanese army under Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.
The US-mediated talks in Switzerland come with Sudan at a catastrophic "breaking point", according to the United Nations, with tens of thousands of preventable deaths looming due to multiple crises exacerbated by the conflict.
The United States last month invited Sudan's warring sides to ceasefire talks, co-hosted with Saudi Arabia and Switzerland.
The talks, at an undisclosed location in Switzerland, are scheduled to start on Wednesday and could last up to 10 days.
While the RSF swiftly accepted the US invitation, the Sudanese government has voiced concerns over Washington's approach, and has given no confirmation that it intends to join in.
"The RSF gave an unconditional agreement to participate," said Tom Perriello, the US special envoy for Sudan.
"We've had extensive engagement with the SAF (Sudanese armed forces), but they have not yet given us an affirmation" on coming to Switzerland.
However, "we will move forward with this event this week, and that has been made clear to the parties", Perriello told a press conference at the US mission in Geneva.
There cannot be "formal mediation between the two parties if SAF does not attend -- in which case, we continue to focus on the international and technical elements," he said.
"This is a tremendous gathering of experts and we are going to move forward. If SAF changes its mind and wants to participate, we will then be able to have... that mediated component."
