The World Briefly

June 01, 2023

Agree to Disagree

Sudan

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Sudan’s military junta suspended its participation in ceasefire talks with the country’s main paramilitary group Wednesday, a move that foreign mediators and analysts warn could exacerbate the recent conflict in the African nation, Agence France-Presse reported.

Since last month, the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been engaging in US- and Saudi-brokered peace talks in Saudi Arabia. The negotiations were aimed at mediating the violent conflict between the two factions that erupted in mid-April.

But army officials announced Wednesday they were walking out of the negotiations “because the rebels have never implemented a single one of the provisions of a short-term ceasefire which required their withdrawal from hospitals and residential buildings.”

The walkout comes just days after US and Saudi mediators announced that the warring factions agreed to extend a humanitarian truce by five days. Despite pledges, clashes erupted Tuesday in the capital Khartoum and the western region of Darfur.

The recent ceasefire is the latest of seven that have been declared since fighting erupted on April 15 – all however having been violated to some extent, the Associated Press noted.

Both sides have blamed each other for the violations.

Observers noted that the army’s move deals a blow to the peace efforts and risks plunging the African country into further instability.

More than 1,800 people have been killed and at least one million people have been internally displaced since the fighting began.

The United Nations warned that conflict has also impeded the delivery of aid needed by 25 million people – more than half of the population.

This story originally appeared in the June 01, 2023 newsletter, Balkan Malaise.