Sudan: Hamedti Says Ready for Negotiations with Burhan if Fighting Stops

File photo: Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, then deputy head of the military council, salutes during a rally, in Galawee, northern Sudan, June 15, 2019. (AP Photo, File)
File photo: Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, then deputy head of the military council, salutes during a rally, in Galawee, northern Sudan, June 15, 2019. (AP Photo, File)
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Sudan: Hamedti Says Ready for Negotiations with Burhan if Fighting Stops

File photo: Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, then deputy head of the military council, salutes during a rally, in Galawee, northern Sudan, June 15, 2019. (AP Photo, File)
File photo: Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, then deputy head of the military council, salutes during a rally, in Galawee, northern Sudan, June 15, 2019. (AP Photo, File)

Leader of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in Sudan, Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, said on Saturday that he is ready for negotiations with army chief Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan on condition that fighting stops between the rival sides.

In remarks to BBC on Saturday, Dagalo, better known by his nickname Hamedti, said that to have negotiations with Burhan there are conditions. "Cease hostilities. After that we can have negotiations,” he said.

He added: "I am looking forward to having a civilian government today - before tomorrow, a fully civilian government. This is my principle.”

Two days ago, al-Burhan agreed in principle to meet Hamedti, but he told local media on Friday that he refuses to sit with Hamedti describing his forces as "rebellious."

Asked whether a truce could persist should the two generals reach one, Hamedti said: “We have called for a truce since day one of the war. We immediately opened humanitarian corridors inside the areas controlled by our forces. We started with a truce from our side.”

On Friday, fighting continued in Khartoum and in the Darfur region in western Sudan, despite the extension of the truce.

The conflict between the RSF and the Sudanese armed forces has been going on since mid-April. It claimed the lives of hundreds of people.

Around 574 people have been killed since the fighting began, in addition to 74 others who died early this week.



Lebanon Elects Army Chief as New President

The Lebanese Parliament building a day before a session to elect the Lebanese president, in Beirut, Lebanon, 08 January 2025. (EPA)
The Lebanese Parliament building a day before a session to elect the Lebanese president, in Beirut, Lebanon, 08 January 2025. (EPA)
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Lebanon Elects Army Chief as New President

The Lebanese Parliament building a day before a session to elect the Lebanese president, in Beirut, Lebanon, 08 January 2025. (EPA)
The Lebanese Parliament building a day before a session to elect the Lebanese president, in Beirut, Lebanon, 08 January 2025. (EPA)

Lebanon's parliament elected army chief Joseph Aoun head of state on Thursday, filling the vacant presidency with a general who enjoys US approval and showing the diminished sway of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group after its devastating war with Israel.
The outcome reflected shifts in the power balance in Lebanon and the wider Middle East, with Hezbollah badly pummelled from last year's war, and its Syrian ally Bashar al-Assad toppled in December.
The presidency, reserved for a Maronite Christian in Lebanon's sectarian power-sharing system, has been vacant since Michel Aoun's term ended in October 2022, with deeply divided factions unable to agree on a candidate able to win enough votes in the 128-seat parliament.
Aoun fell short of the 86 votes needed in a first round vote, but crossed the threshold with 99 votes in a second round, according to Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, after lawmakers from Hezbollah and its Shiite ally the Amal Movement backed him.
Momentum built behind Aoun on Wednesday as Hezbollah's long preferred candidate, Suleiman Franjieh, withdrew and declared support for the army commander, and as French envoy shuttled around Beirut, urging his election in meetings with politicians, three Lebanese political sources said.
Aoun's election is a first step towards reviving government institutions in a country which has had neither a head of state nor a fully empowered cabinet since Aoun left office.
Lebanon, its economy still reeling from a devastating financial collapse in 2019, is in dire need of international support to rebuild from the war, which the World Bank estimates cost the country $8.5 billion.
Lebanon's system of government requires the new president to convene consultations with lawmakers to nominate a Sunni Muslim prime minister to form a new cabinet, a process that can often be protracted as factions barter over ministerial portfolios.
Aoun has a key role in shoring up a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel which was brokered by Washington and Paris in November. The terms require the Lebanese military to deploy into south Lebanon as Israeli troops and Hezbollah withdraw forces.
Aoun, 60, has been commander of the Lebanese army since 2017.