Saudi Arabia to host Sudan peace talks in next three weeks: US

AFP | Washington    

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Saudi Arabia will host fresh peace talks within the next three weeks on the war in Sudan, the United States said, calling Tuesday for both sides to "negotiate in good faith toward a ceasefire."

The discussions, which will be held in Saudi Arabia's port city of Jeddah, were announced on Monday at a France-backed international conference in Paris that raised more than two million euros for Sudan.

For over a year, the northeast African country has been ravaged by conflict between the Sudanese army and paramilitary forces, causing what the United Nations has called "one of the worst humanitarian disasters in recent memory."

"Given the urgency of peace, we welcome the decision of Saudi Arabia to restart Jeddah talks within the next three weeks," Tom Perriello, US special envoy for Sudan, wrote on X on Monday.

The US State Department called Tuesday for the army and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to "negotiate in good faith toward a ceasefire."

Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, the African Union and the IGAD East African trade bloc will partner in facilitating the talks, a spokesman for the State Department said.

The United States and Saudi Arabia have already supported several rounds of negotiations in Jeddah without success.

Fighting broke out on April 15 last year between Sudan's regular army, headed by the country's de facto leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the RSF paramilitaries led by his former deputy and ally Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

Since then, tens of thousands of people have been killed and more than 8.5 million have been forced to flee their homes.