Sudan FM confirms parties will talk only via mediators
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"We accepted the Saudi-US ceasefire initiative, but not the mediation in ending the conflict," Sudan's FM undersecretary revealed.
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Smoke rises in Khartoum, Sudan, Wednesday, May 3, 2023 (AP Photo/Marwan Ali)
Sudanese Foreign Ministry undersecretary Dafalla Al-Haj Ali relayed that if contact were to happen between the Sudanese armed forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) representatives face-to-face, it would only occur through mediators.
During a press conference by Saudi TV channel Al-Hadath, Ali who serves as Abdel Fattah Burhan's representative, said: "The second party has not accepted the truce yet. If this humanitarian ceasefire continues, our delegation will not meet with those who the rebels [Rapid Support Forces] will send. We will not meet face-to-face".
He added his intention to "express the difference between the concepts of intermediation and truce initiative. We accepted Saudi-US ceasefire initiative, but not the mediation in ending the conflict".
Read next: UN Human Rights Commissioner: Sudan is in 'full-blown conflict'
This follows after the Sudanese military spokesperson Gen. Brigadier Nabil Abdallah told Sputnik that a proposition to hold negotiations in the city of Jeddah has been suggested by Saudi-American mediators. He noted that the agenda of the negotiations will exclusively tackle humanitarian concerns and prospective ceasefires.
That same day, the Foreign Ministry of South Sudan confirmed that a truce has been agreed upon by both parties from May 4 to May 11.
This counts as the seventh truce after the previous six were violated. The chaos and bloodshed, now in their third week, have sparked a mass exodus of tens of thousands of Sudanese to neighboring countries including Egypt, Chad, and the Central African Republic.
In a clear act of exploiting the ongoing clashes in Sudan, the Israeli occupation rushed to mediate a ceasefire to ensure normalizing ties with the African country. However, Sudanese parties have constantly expressed their rejection of the Sudanese government's move forward towards normalizing relations with "Israel".
UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric confirmed on Monday that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has spoken to both Sudanese rival generals over the phone "at different times" and that "he will do whatever needs to be done."
He added that Guterres had the phone "glued to his ear" amid warnings that more than 800,000 people could flee fighting in Sudan, where gun battles and explosions again shook the capital in violation of the latest truce agreed between the warring generals.
Furthermore, the Sudanese Ministry of Health announced that the casualties of the conflict have steadily increased since the conflict broke out in mid-April. The ministry estimated that more than 550 have been killed and approximately 5,000 have been injured.
