PORT SUDAN: Sudan’s army-aligned government said it would send a delegation to Cairo to discuss implementing a previous humanitarian deal, despite boycotting ongoing talks in Switzerland seeking to end the army’s 16-month war with paramilitaries.

The United States is currently brokering ceasefire talks in an undisclosed location in Switzerland, which the army’s adversaries the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are attending, but the army has shunned.

War has raged since April 2023 between the army, under the country’s de facto ruler Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the RSF, which is commanded by Burhan’s former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

Sudan’s ruling Transitional Sovereignty Council said in a statement that the delegation in Cairo would discuss “the government’s vision for implementing the Jeddah Agreement”, which was negotiated last year in a bid to protect civilians.

Though fighting has continued unabated, the warring parties had agreed in May 2023 during talks in the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah to respect humanitarian principles and allow in badly needed aid.

The decision came “based on communication with the American government, represented by US envoy to Sudan Tom Perriello, and communication with the Egyptian government requesting a meeting with a government delegation in Cairo,” it added.

Burhan has repeatedly rejected the Swiss-hosted talks, vowing there will be no peace “without the withdrawal of every last militia fighter from the cities and villages they have plundered and colonised”.

His government has accused mediators of trying to legitimise the RSF and circumvent the Sudanese state. The government has also rejected the presence of the United Arab Emirates as an observer in the ongoing talks in Switzerland, after months of accusing Abu Dhabi of backing the RSF.

Yet despite the army’s no-show, Perriello said that discussions are ongoing in “virtual proximity talks”, where brokers speak to each side separately.

There has been relative progress on humanitarian access to Sudan, where over 25 million people face acute hunger, with the army agreeing on Thursday to re-open the crucial Adre border crossing between the country’s western Darfur region and Chad.

Egypt — which is also part of the steering group in Switzerland along with the UAE, the African Union, the United Nations, and co-host Saudi Arabia — has historically been Burhan’s strongest backer.

The fighting in Sudan, which has killed tens of thousands and displaced a fifth of the population, has continued unabated despite the ongoing mediation efforts. Both forces have been accused of war crimes, including targeting civilians, indiscriminately shelling residential areas and looting or obstructing aid.

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2024