The warring sides in Sudan say they are willing to find peaceful answers

In reaction to U.S. President Joe Biden’s call for warring sides to start talking again, Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) said they are open to peaceful solutions to the war that has been going on for more than 17 months.

On Wednesday, Army Chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan said that the Sudanese government is still open to all positive measures to end the war. Early Thursday morning, RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo said the same thing.

“We want to stress again that we are committed to peace talks.” We think that dialogue, not random violence, is the way to peace, and we will keep working on peace processes to make sure that all Sudanese civilians have a future without fear and pain, Dagalo said on X.

Yet, both men blamed the other for failing to end the war, which began in April 2023 and has killed over 12,000 people. They said the other was guilty of abuses. They have not laid out clear steps for finding a peaceful settlement.

The war started when rivalries between the army and the RSF, which had shared power after a coup, turned into full-on fighting.
U.S.-led mediators said last month that they had gotten promises from both sides at talks in Switzerland to make it easier for humanitarian help to get to the areas that need it, but that the lack of the Sudanese army at the talks had slowed down progress.

“We stand ready to work with all international partners in pursuit of a peaceful resolution that alleviates the suffering of our people and sets Sudan on a path towards security, stability, the rule of law, and the democratic transfer of power,” Burhan, the army chief, said.