Tuesday 06 / May / 2025
Jeddah: No resolution is in sight for the fighting which has gripped Sudan since mid April, reports suggested on Monday, amid ongoing talks coordinated by the US and Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea city of Jeddah.
The conflict between the armed forces, under the leadership of army general Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces led by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo have left hundreds killed and thousand more injured.
Each of the warring generals sent a representative to the talks, which kicked off on Saturday.
However, a Saudi diplomat who spoke to AFP news agency on Monday said "no major progress" has thus far been made.
"A permanent ceasefire isn't on the table... Every side believes it is capable of winning the battle," the diplomat added.
Both parties have hinted they were engaging with the talks to tackle humanitarian issues like safe passage, rather than end the fighting. Several cease-fire agreements have been announced since April 15, but all were violated shortly afterward.
The talks are set to continue "in the following days," the Saudi Foreign Ministry said, without providing a specific timetable. They aim to achieve "an effective short-term halt" to the fighting, as well as facilitating aid delivery and restoring basic services.
The Saudi ministry is also pushing for "a timetable for expanded negotiations to reach a permanent cessation of hostilities", it said.
Sudanese citizens stuck in the country amid the fighting or forced to seek refuge abroad are eagerly waiting for the talks to yield any results.
"If the Jeddah negotiations fail to stop the war this would mean that we won't be able to return to our homes and our lives," Tamader Ibrahim, a 35-year-old government employee in Bahri, across the Blue Nile from Khartoum, told the Reuters news agency.
"We're waiting on these negotiations because they're our only hope."
The United Nations top humanitarian official Martin Griffiths arrived in Jeddah on Sunday with plans to meet both parties' representatives. He reportedly had asked to join the negotiations, but his request remains pending.
