Sudan’s transitional government says it will send a delegation to Cairo for discussions with US and Egyptian officials about ending the northeast African country’s 16-month war, after the national army boycotted ongoing talks in Switzerland.
The army-controlled government announced the decision in a statement on Sunday, citing a request from the US special envoy for Sudan, Tom Perriello, for talks to implement a previous agreement reached in Jeddah.
The Cairo meeting is expected to take place on Tuesday, local outlet the Sudan Tribune reported on Sunday.
The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) has said it will not attend the Geneva peace summit, which began on Wednesday, unless the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), with which it is involved in an armed struggle, withdraws from civilian areas, as agreed at last year’s talks sponsored by the US and Saudi Arabia.
The African nation plunged into chaos in mid-April last year when fighting broke out in the capital, Khartoum, between the military and the RSF, following months of tension over control of the country.
The latest talks are taking place as the war-torn country faces what the United Nations has labeled as one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. More than 12,000 people have been killed and nearly 11 million others forced out of their homes due to clashes that have spread across Sudan, according to the UN.
The RSF has sent a delegation to the Geneva peace conference, where Egypt, the UAE, the African Union, and the UN are present as observers.
On Saturday, the US and Saudi mediators, along with the observers, issued a joint statement commending the Sudanese government for agreeing to open the Adre border from neighboring Chad to North Darfur for the next three months.
“We also welcome the Rapid Support Forces’ commitment to cooperate with humanitarian deliveries, notably through the crucial Dabbah route to Darfur and Kordofan, and to protect humanitarian personnel in their work,” they stated.
In a separate statement on Monday, in observance of World Humanitarian Day, the team said at least 22 aid workers had been killed and over 30 others injured while on duty in Sudan since the start of hostilities over a year ago.
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Sunday that the border opening will allow it to deliver aid to the “conflict-rattled Darfur region, where famine was confirmed just two weeks ago,” in the Zamzam displaced persons’ camp near North Darfur’s capital.