Global Courant 2023-05-07 22:55:21
Battles raged in Khartoum on Sunday as envoys from Sudan’s warring factions were in Saudi Arabia for talks that international mediators hope will end a three-week-old conflict that has left hundreds dead and sparked an exodus.
The US-Saudi initiative is the first serious effort to end fighting between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which have turned parts of the Sudanese capital into war zones, and has an internationally backed plan derailed to usher in a civilian government of unrest and uprisings after years, and created a humanitarian crisis.
The warring parties have said the talks would address humanitarian issues and not negotiate an end to the war.
Saudi Arabia will allocate $100 million in humanitarian aid to Sudan, Saudi state television Al Ekhbariya said.
Battles since mid-April have left hundreds dead and thousands more injured, relief supplies disrupted and 100,000 refugees fleeing abroad.
Ahmed al-Amin, a resident of Haj Yousif district in northeastern Khartoum, told AFP news agency on Sunday that he saw “fighter jets flying overhead and heard the sound of explosions and anti-aircraft fire”.
Manahil Salah, a 28-year-old lab doctor on an evacuation flight from Port Sudan to the United Arab Emirates, said her family hid in their house close to army headquarters in the capital for three days before finally making their way to the coast of the Red Sea travelled.
“Yes, I’m glad I’m surviving,” she said. “But I feel deep sadness because I left my mother and father in Sudan, and sad because all this pain is happening in my homeland.”
Thousands of people are trying to leave Port Sudan on boats to Saudi Arabia, paying for expensive commercial flights through the country’s only functioning airport, or using evacuation flights.
“We were lucky enough to travel to Abu Dhabi, but what is happening in Khartoum, where I have spent my whole life, is painful,” said Abdulkader, 75, who also took an evacuation flight to the UAE. “Leaving your life and your memories behind is something indescribable.”
Intended goal
The United Nations’ top humanitarian official arrived in the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah on Sunday for ceasefire talks between Sudan’s warring generals, a spokesman said.
“Martin Griffiths is currently in Jeddah and the purpose of his visit is to address humanitarian issues related to Sudan,” spokesman Eri Kaneko said.
A UN official said Griffiths would meet representatives of the two generals. There was no indication that Griffiths would play a direct role in discussions about a possible ceasefire.
The warring generals have already announced several ceasefires, but none have lasted.
Sudanese and Saudi officials have provided few details about what the talks in Jeddah will involve and how long they will last.
A joint US-Saudi statement on Saturday described them as “pre-negotiation talks”.
As mediators search for a path to peace, both sides made it clear they would only discuss a humanitarian ceasefire, not negotiate an end to the war.
RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, commonly known as Hemedti, confirmed his group’s presence and said he hoped the talks would achieve their intended goal of securing safe passage for civilians.
Al Jazeera’s Hiba Morgan, reporting from Khartoum, said the Sudanese military has “made it clear that these are not peace talks; it is not intended to end the conflict.
“It is only intended to open humanitarian corridors for those who need help to get them and for those who want to leave the capital but have not been able to do so since the fighting began. good,” Morgan said.
“Many people here say they have no hope that this would end the conflict, but they also say they don’t believe that an agreement between the RSF and the Sudanese army to open humanitarian corridors would actually delay. When we ask them why, they say that we have seen the previous ceasefires and how they have manifested themselves.”
Hemedti has vowed to capture or kill army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and there was also evidence that both sides are still unwilling to compromise to end the bloodshed.
The conflict began on April 15 after the collapse of an internationally backed plan for a transition to democracy.
Al-Burhan, a career military officer, heads a ruling council installed after the ouster of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir in 2019 and a military coup in 2021, while Hemedti, a former militia leader who made a name for himself in the Darfur conflict, his deputy is .
Prior to the fighting, Hemedti had taken steps such as moving closer to a civilian coalition that indicated he had political plans. Al-Burhan has blamed the war on his “ambitions”.
The extensive use of explosives during the fighting has increased the danger to civilians, especially children who may mistake the munitions for toys and play with them, the United Nations Mine Action Service said.
Western powers have supported the move to civilian rule in a country that sits at a strategic crossroads between Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and the volatile Sahel region.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan traveled to Saudi Arabia this weekend for talks with Saudi leaders.
