Residents in Khartoum recounted details of fierce battles that erupted today, Saturday, as fighters roamed the streets without significant signs of commitment from the warring parties in Sudan to a civilian protection agreement ahead of ceasefire talks set to resume in Saudi Arabia tomorrow, Sunday.
Fighting has rocked Khartoum and surrounding areas, as well as the city of Geneina in the Darfur region, since the army and Rapid Support Forces agreed to a "Declaration of Principles" on Thursday. A senior Saudi diplomat announced that "the parties involved in the Sudanese conflict will resume talks on Sunday based on a mechanism for implementing the Jeddah Declaration," adding that "representatives of both parties will remain in Jeddah."
He explained that the negotiations will focus on a plan for delivering humanitarian aid, ensuring the opening of safe corridors, and removing forces from civilian areas.
The diplomat noted that Saudi Arabia has invited Army Chief General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan to an Arab League summit scheduled to be held in Jeddah, but other diplomats in the Gulf anticipated that Al-Burhan would not leave Sudan for security reasons. Al-Burhan's invitation came in his capacity as the head of the Sudanese Sovereign Council, where the leader of the Rapid Support Forces, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, serves as the deputy head of the council.
Saudi Arabia has close ties with both men since the army and Rapid Support Forces sent troops to assist the Saudi-led coalition in the war against the Houthis in Yemen. Some of the fiercest fighting has taken place in the Darfur region, which witnessed the outbreak of war in 2003, leading to the deaths of 300,000 people and the displacement of 2.5 million.
The Darfur Bar Association, a local human rights group, reported that at least 77 people were killed in Geneina, where fighting broke out yesterday, Friday, after a two-week period of calm. The Rapid Support Forces denied moving from their positions in Darfur and blamed the deteriorating situation on the army and supporters of the former president Omar al-Bashir, who was ousted in 2019, stating that there are armed civilians among them. Residents reported yesterday that the army did not intervene in the conflict in Geneina.
