Sudan peace talks resume in Cairo
Sudan peace efforts resumed in Cairo on Wednesday as Egypt, the United Nations, and the United States called for the warring parties to agree to a nationwide humanitarian truce, as the war between the army and its rival paramilitary nears the three-year mark.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty told reporters that Egypt wouldn’t accept the collapse of Sudan or its institutions, or any attempt to undermine its unity or divide its territory, describing such scenarios as “red lines.”
Abdelatty said during a joint news conference with Ramtane Lamamra, the UN secretary general’s personal envoy for Sudan, that Egypt won’t stand idly and won’t hesitate to take the necessary measures to help preserve Sudan’s unity.
Parallel entities
“There is absolutely no room for recognizing parallel entities or any militias. Under no circumstances can we equate Sudanese state institutions, including the Sudanese army, with any other militias,” he said on the sidelines of the fifth meeting of the Consultative Mechanism to Enhance and Coordinate Peace Efforts.
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, and the military have been at war since April 2023. The conflict that has seen multiple atrocities and pushed Sudan into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
Massad Boulos, the US senior adviser for Arab and African Affairs, said Wednesday that more than 1.3 metric tons of humanitarian supplies entered el-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, on Wednesday, with the help of American-led negotiations, marking the first such delivery since the city was besieged 18 months ago.
At least 10 others were killed and nine others injured, also on Monday, in a drone attack that hit Sinja, the capital city of Sennar province, according to Ocha and the Sudan Doctors Network.
Sudan Doctors Network said in a statement that the drone strike was launched by the RSF and hit several areas in the city, describing the attack as the latest crime added “to the long list of grave violations against civilians.”
The group said that civilians are being deliberately targeted in a “full-fledged war crime.”
Recent violence displaced more than 8,000 people from villages in North Darfur, with some fleeing to safer areas within the province and others crossing into Chad, according to the latest estimate by the International Organization for Migration.
