Sudan: Despite negotiations, there is little hope for a quick resolution of the conflict

In Sudan, fighting broke out again over the weekend between the army and rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF) – despite initial indirect talks between representatives of Saudi Arabia’s warring factions. According to local media reports, the talks are again about a ceasefire and the establishment of humanitarian corridors, but not about a sustainable peace solution. A direct meeting of the negotiating partners in the Saudi Jeddah was not planned. During previous mediations, both sides had repeatedly agreed on ceasefires and pledged to set up humanitarian corridors. However, the agreements were not fulfilled.

Fighting in the crisis country continued over the weekend. According to the Arab television channel Al-Jazeera, the Sudanese army has pushed the rival RSF back from Njala, the capital of South Darfur state in the west of the country. Darfur is actually considered a stronghold of the RSF. According to media and eyewitness accounts, there were also airstrikes and artillery shelling in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Saturday.

The situation had calmed down somewhat on Sunday morning, a reporter from the German news agency in Khartoum reported. However, according to media reports, there were renewed air strikes at the presidential palace in the center of the capital in the afternoon.

In mid-April, a long-simmering power struggle escalated in Sudan between the army led by de facto president Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the RSF paramilitary unit of his vice president Mohammed Hamdan Daglo. Since then, bloody fighting has erupted between the two sides in the country in Northeast Africa, which has a population of about 46 million. The fighting killed several hundred people and injured several thousand.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and other aid organizations have now resumed work in the country. You work under enormous security risks. The WHO announced on Friday that it, together with the United Arab Emirates, has delivered some 30 tons of medical supplies by air to Port Sudan in the east of the country. The port city on the Red Sea has become a haven for many refugees trying to cross over to Saudi Arabia by ship. According to the WHO, 165,000 people can be helped with the medical material and medicines.

Given the devastating situation, the United Nations Human Rights Council will discuss the country next Thursday. The special session was convened in Geneva at the request of Germany, Britain, Norway and the United States, a spokesman for the panel announced Friday evening. The official topic of the meeting is “the impact of the conflict in Sudan on human rights”. (sda/dpa)