Sudan says it will accept an invitation to U.S.-sponsored peace negotiations on a conditional basis

A request for Sudan’s leadership to participate in U.S.-sponsored peace negotiations in Geneva was only partially granted on Tuesday, sparking hopes that the meetings might help bring an end to the country’s 15-month conflict.

In the conflict with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the government supports the army. Recent attempts by the army to resume peace talks or a truce have been rejected, as Islamists who are influential within the army have called for an army triumph.

The attempt to get the army and the RSF together for discussions in Geneva would be the first such attempt in months. Shortly after being suggested last week, the RSF accepted the invitation from the United States.

“The government said (in its reply to the invitation) that it was the party most concerned with saving the lives and dignity of the Sudanese people, and so it will cooperate with any entity that aims to do so,” the Sudanese foreign ministry stated in a statement.

A fifth of the population is now displaced due to the war, and starvation is probably spreading throughout the nation, resulting in the worst humanitarian disaster ever. Prior negotiations that Saudi Arabia and the United States had called in Jeddah ended without a deal.

Eight of Sudan’s eighteen state capitals, including the capital Khartoum, are now under the authority of the RSF, which last year battled with the army over plans to combine their forces. The RSF is also continuing to grow into the southeast of the country.

“The government made clear that any negotiations before … full withdrawal and an end to expansion (by the RSF) will not be acceptable to the Sudanese people,” stated the statement. It did, however, also ask for meetings with American representatives to go over the discussion’s agenda.

Both sides had been open to meeting offers prior to formal negotiations, U.S. Special Envoy Tom Perriello told reporters on Monday. He stated that a meeting that was due to take place at Port Sudan, the army’s de facto capital, had been postponed.

According to U.N. experts, U.S. officials, and the Sudanese army, the discussions would be co-hosted by Saudi Arabia and involve Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, which has supported the RSF. The United Arab Emirates disputes this.

For the first time since the start of the conflict, UAE’s Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed and Army Chief Abdelfattah al-Burhan recently had a phone conversation.
“We think actually having UAE at the talks gives it a better chance for it to be a real peace deal and one that can be enforced,” Perriello stated.