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Sudan's Al-Burhan boycotts Geneva talks, says will 'fight 100 years'

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
24 Aug 2024 21:12

General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan says will not be sending representatives to peace talks held in Geneva.

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The Commander-in-Chief of the Sudanese Army Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, speaks during a press conference at the General Command of the Armed Forces in Khartoum, Sudan, on October 26, 2021 (AP)

The head of the Transitional Sovereignty Council of Sudan General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan said that his government will not join the peace talks being held in Geneva with the Rapid Support Forces.

"We will not go to Geneva... we will fight for 100 years," Chief of the Sudanese Army al-Burhan said in a press briefing in Port Sudan on Saturday.

The talks, organized by the United States and co-hosted by Saudi Arabia and Switzerland, commenced on Wednesday in a closed-door setting, with representatives from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and delegations from several regional countries, including Egypt, the UAE, and other African nations, in addition to the United Nations.

The Sudanese government has voiced concerns over the participation of the UAE in the dialogue, accusing the Emirati government of providing military and financial support to the RSF in the ongoing war in Sudan.

Tom Perrielo, the US Special Envoy for Sudan, insisted that the talks go ahead even without al-Burhan's delegation, saying that the people of Sudan cannot wait longer for a ceasefire.

The discussions ended on Friday without reaching a ceasefire agreement. However, progress was made to secure aid access via two routes in the country now facing one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

Meanwhile, Sudan continues to suffer from accumulating humanitarian crises, including widespread hunger, displacement, lack of medical care, and thousands of deaths among civilians.

'Until victory'

Previous rounds of talks in Saudi Arabia's city of Jeddah produced no substantial results and instead saw the SAF become firmer in its rejection of a ceasefire with the RSF as the war extended.

Earlier in July, al-Burhan stressed that the SAF would not succumb to the mediators' will and negotiate a ceasefire with the RSF.

"We are continuing in this battle until victory, and I repeat once again that we will not negotiate with an enemy who attacks us and occupies our lands," he stated during a visit to Wadi Seidna and Omdurman.

"We will not go to a negotiating table where they [the mediators] want to drag us by our ears," he said, adding that the only condition in which the SAF will negotiate a deal is after the RSF withdraws from areas it controls.