Agencies
Khartoum, May 6(Darfur24) RIYADH and Washington said Sudan’s warring sides will meet on Saturday in the Saudi Red Sea city of Jeddah for talks as international mediators press for an end to a conflict that has killed hundreds and sent tens of thousands of refugees to neighboring countries .
A joint statement said that Saudi Arabia and the United States welcomed the start of “initial talks” between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, and urged both sides to “seriously engage in these talks” to pave way for a permanent ceasefire.
Sudan’s Alliance for Freedom and Change, a political grouping leading an internationally backed plan for a transition to civilian rule, also welcomed Saturday’s Jeddah talks.
The Jeddah initiative is the first serious attempt to end the fighting that has paralyzed the Sudanese government and endangered the country’s political transition after years of unrest and uprisings.
Conflict broke out on April 15 between army forces led by Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, better known as Hemedti, following the collapse of an internationally backed plan for a new transition with civilian parties.
The Sudanese Armed Forces said it had sent a delegation to Jeddah on Friday evening as part of the initiative. The Rapid Support Forces have yet to confirm their presence, but both sides have said they will only discuss a humanitarian truce, not an end to the war.
But Sudanese broadcasters said there was no exchange of gunfire in and around Khartoum in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Saudi Arabia has close relations with Al-Burhan and Hamidti, both of whom sent forces to assist the Saudi-led coalition in its war against the Houthi group in Yemen.
Arabia said that its Foreign Minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, and his American counterpart, Anthony Blinken, discussed, in a phone call on Friday, the developments of a joint initiative to host the two sides of the Sudanese conflict in the city of Jeddah, in the Kingdom, in an attempt to reduce tension.
A document on Friday showed that a group of countries led by Britain, the United States, Germany and Norway is set to request an urgent meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Sudan crisis next week.