Since April 2023, Sudanese armed forces and rapid support forces have been fighting each other, causing almost 15,000 deaths and ten million displaced persons.
Building on previous Jeddah processes co-facilitated with Saudi Arabia, the United States has urged the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) under General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) under General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, to take part in ceasefire talks. These talks, co-organised with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, are due to begin on 14 August 2024 in Switzerland.
The State Department has stated that ‘the primary objective of these talks in Switzerland is to achieve a nationwide ceasefire, guarantee humanitarian access to those in need, and establish a robust monitoring and verification mechanism to ensure the implementation of any agreements reached’.
Sudanese people for the governance of the country to be returned to civilians. Civilians must be the primary actors in defining a process for resolving political issues and restoring Sudan’s democratic transition’, said the Americans.The US State Department stressed the scale of the death, suffering and destruction caused by this ‘senseless conflict’.
For the past 15 months, Sudan has been ravaged by a conflict that has claimed more than 13,000 lives, according to the United Nations, pushed millions of people to the brink of starvation and displaced nearly ten million others.
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