Sudan peace talks begin despite ruling general’s refusal to meet rival

Lop-sided peace talks on ending the war in Sudan have begun with the aim of heading off a man-made famine that is taking root and threatens millions of lives.
America, which is leading negotiations, pressed ahead at a secret location in Switzerland even after a key figure in the conflict failed to turn up.
Since the start of the war 17 months ago, starvation has become a weapon of war used by Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by two rival generals, aid organisations said. Supplies of humanitarian support have been blocked but arms have continued to flow, leaving 25 million people — more than half the population — in acute hunger.
In a compromise announcement on Thursday, Sudan’s ruling council said that it would open the Adre border crossing with Chad for three months to allow humanitarian deliveries. The crossing was closed in February after the authorities claimed that it was being used by the RSF to move weapons.
After Sudan’s de facto ruler, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, refused to sit down with his rival general, he received an insistent call from Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state.
Blinken told him of the “urgent need” for both sides “to end the war and guarantee humanitarian access for the millions of Sudanese who are suffering”, Vedant Patel, his spokesman, said.
Burhan had objected to the participation of the UAE, which is thought to be supplying weapons to the RSF. The UAE has denied arming any side, but independent experts including a UN panel have backed Burhan’s claims. Analysts have said that a string of regional and foreign players are using the conflict, which began in April 2023, as their proxy war.
The talks aim to agree a ceasefire, improve humanitarian access and set up enforcement mechanisms. They are co-hosted by Saudi Arabia and Switzerland, with the African Union, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and the United Nations acting as a steering group.
The Switzerland talks pick up from an earlier attempt in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, that failed to end the fighting.
Alan Boswell, the Horn of Africa project director at the International Crisis Group, said Burhan’s no-show could leave him appearing to be “the main obstacle to ending the war”.
Cameron Hudson, from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies’ Africa programme, said the talks were unlikely to have an effect.
“The only way to get them to talk is through brute force: either the risk of losing the war on the battlefield, the risk of real diplomatic isolation and the risk of real economic devastation for them. None of that pressure currently exists”, he said.
Famine was declared earlier this month in the western Darfur region. Other areas will fall to famine soon, aid organisations warned.
If nothing changes, “tens of thousands of Sudanese children may die over the coming months and that is by no means a worst-case scenario,” James Elder of Unicef said. “Any disease outbreak and we will see mortality skyrocket.”
Othman Belbeisi, from the International Organisation for Migration, said that Sudan’s humanitarian crisis was at a “catastrophic, cataclysmic breaking point”.