Fighting in Khartoum as mediators seek end to Sudan conflict
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[May 08, 2023]
KHARTOUM (Reuters) -Fighting could be heard in south
Khartoum on Sunday as envoys from Sudan's warring parties met in Saudi
Arabia for talks that international mediators hope will bring an end to
a three-week-old conflict that has killed hundreds and triggered an
exodus.
The U.S.-Saudi initiative is the first serious attempt to end fighting
between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) that
has turned parts of the Sudanese capital into war zones, derailed an
internationally backed plan to usher in civilian rule following years of
unrest, and created a humanitarian crisis.
"Pre-negotiation" talks began on Saturday and "will continue in the
coming days in the expectation of reaching an effective short-term
ceasefire to facilitate humanitarian assistance," the Saudi Foreign
Ministry said in a statement.
Saudi Arabia will allocate $100 million in humanitarian aid to Sudan,
Saudi state-run Al Ekhbariya television said earlier on Sunday.
Battles since mid-April have killed hundreds of people and wounded
thousands of others, disrupted aid supplies and sent 100,000 refugees
fleeing abroad.
Manahil Salah, a 28-year-old laboratory doctor on an evacuation flight
from Port Sudan to the United Arab Emirates, said her family hid for
three days in their home close to army headquarters in the capital
before eventually travelling to the Red Sea Coast.
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"Yes, I am happy to survive," she said. "But I feel deep sadness because
I left my mother and father behind in Sudan, and sad because all this
pain is happening in my homeland."
Thousands of people are pushing to leave from Port Sudan on boats to
Saudi Arabia, paying for expensive commercial flights through the
country's only functioning airport, or using evacuation flights.
"We were lucky to travel to Abu Dhabi, but what's happening in Khartoum,
where I spent my whole life, is painful," said 75-year-old Abdulkader,
who also caught an evacuation flight to the UAE. "Leaving your life and
your memories is something indescribable."
INTENDED AIM
While mediators are seeking a path to peace, both sides have made it
clear they would only discuss a humanitarian truce, not negotiate an end
to the war.
The U.S. and Saudi Arabia urged the warring parties to use the latest
talks to move toward "scheduling subsequent expanded negotiations to
achieve a permanent cessation of hostilities," the Saudi Foreign
Ministry statement said.
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![](../images/050823PIX/news_i73.jpg)
Sudanese refugees who fled the violence
in their country, ride a cart as they pass other refugees standing
beside makeshift shelters near the border between Sudan and Chad in
Koufroun, Chad May 6, 2023. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra/File Photo
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Confirming his group's attendance, RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo,
commonly known as Hemedti, said he hoped the talks would achieve
their intended aim of securing safe passage for civilians.
Hemedti has vowed to either capture or kill army leader Abdel Fattah
al-Burhan, and there was also evidence on the ground that both sides
remain unwilling to make compromises to end the bloodshed.
The conflict started on April 15 following the collapse of an
internationally backed plan for a transition to democracy.
Burhan, a career army officer, heads a ruling council installed
after the 2019 ouster of long-time autocrat Omar al-Bashir and a
2021 military coup, while Hemedti, a former militia leader who made
his name in the Darfur conflict, is his deputy.
Prior to the fighting, Hemedti had been taking steps including
moving closer to a civilian coalition that indicated he had
political plans. Burhan has blamed the war on his "ambitions."
The extensive use of explosive ordnance throughout the fighting has
increased the danger to civilians, especially children who can
mistake the munitions for toys and play with them, said the United
Nations Mine Action Service.
Western powers have backed the transition to a civilian government
in a country that sits at a strategic crossroads between Egypt,
Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and the volatile Sahel region.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan was travelling
to Saudi Arabia at the weekend for talks with Saudi leaders.
(Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz; Additional reporting by Nayera
Abdallah and Alaa Swilam; Writing by Michael Georgy and Matt
Spetalnick; Editing by Mike Harrison, David Holmes, Diane Craft and
Lincoln Feast.)
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