The Sudanese government announced on Tuesday, July 30, 2024, that it has accepted an invitation to attend US-sponsored peace talks in Geneva, raising hopes for progress in ending the 15-month-long conflict between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The Geneva talks will be the first significant effort in months to bring the army and the RSF together. The RSF accepted the US invitation shortly after it was proposed last week.
In a statement, the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, “The government affirms its commitment to safeguarding the lives and dignity of the Sudanese people. Therefore, it will cooperate with any entity seeking the same.”
The war has caused the world’s most significant humanitarian crisis, displacing one-fifth of the population and putting the entire country at risk of famine. Previous talks hosted by the US and Saudi Arabia in Jeddah ended without an agreement.
The RSF, which clashed with the army over plans to integrate their forces last year, controls eight of Sudan’s eighteen state capitals, including Khartoum, and is expanding further into the southeast of the country.
The government statement emphasized that “any negotiations before implementing the Jeddah declaration, which calls for comprehensive withdrawal and cessation of expansion, will not be acceptable to the Sudanese people.” Nonetheless, the government also requested meetings with US officials to discuss the agenda for the talks.
US Special Envoy for Sudan, Tom Perriello, told reporters on Monday that both sides were open to preliminary meetings before formal talks. He added that a planned meeting in Port Sudan, currently an army stronghold, was canceled but is hoped to be rescheduled.
The talks, co-hosted by Saudi Arabia, will include Egypt and the UAE. UN experts, US officials, and the Sudanese army claim that the UAE supports the RSF, a claim the UAE denies.
Sudan’s Chief of Staff, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, recently spoke by phone with UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed for the first time since the war began.
Perriello said, “We believe the UAE’s participation in the talks offers a better chance for a genuine and implementable peace agreement.”
