War in Sudan: Negotiations reach deadlock

Saudi, US and African mediators have indefinitely suspended talks between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the port city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The talks were halted because the two parties failed to honour their commitments to implement confidence-building measures and withdraw military forces from key towns, according to Sudanese media reports on Monday.

Although the joint mediation of the African Union, the United States and Saudi Arabia has not officially announced the suspension of negotiations, it remains deadlocked.

On 7 November , the two parties reached an agreement defining measures to facilitate humanitarian access to civilians. They also agreed to implement confidence-building measures, in particular to allow the arrest of former regime leaders who have escaped from prison, in reference to the main leaders of the ousted regime of Omar al-Bashir who escaped from detention centres at the start of the war and joined the army.

Launched on 15 April, the war between the Sudanese army, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of General Mohamed Hamdane Daglo, has left more than 9,000 people dead and displaced more than 6 million.