With the renewed battles in Khartoum, a source in the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) announced the readiness of Lieutenant General Mohammad Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti) to stop the fighting and meet with the Army commander, Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, to put an end to the war.
In parallel, the Russian Foreign Ministry expressed its desire to host negotiations between the parties to the Sudanese conflict in Moscow.
The office of the President of South Sudan said that the RSF commander agreed to a cease-fire and a halt to all forms of hostilities in Sudan.
During a meeting in Juba with the RSF envoy, Youssef Ezzat, South Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardir expressed his concern about the suffering of the Sudanese people and urged both Al-Burhan and Hemedti to agree on the cease-fire.
In a press conference following the meeting, Ezzat voiced Hemedti’s readiness to meet with Al-Burhan anywhere and at any time, provided that a ceasefire be declared.
“Dagalo fully supports the peace process led by Mayardit through the IGAD organization,” Ezzat said, stressing that Juba was “an ideal place for Sudanese peace talks.”
For its part, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced, on Thursday, that Moscow was ready to “host negotiations between the Sudanese parties.”
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said that his country “opposes external interference in Sudanese affairs.”
“They must sort out their own problems, and we are ready to assist in this since we have long-standing ties,” he declared.
Moscow had denied Western reports about the Wagner Group’s involvement in the fighting between the Sudanese parties, but confirmed that Sudan can benefit from the group’s services.
The founder of Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said in earlier comments that he was ready to help the Sudanese parties if asked to do so, adding that he had “good relations with all parties, which makes him an acceptable mediator.”