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U.S.-brokered talks in Switzerland aimed at ending Sudan’s civil war collapsed over failed efforts to persuade Sudan’s army to participate, while efforts to deliver food to millions facing famine have been hampered by the closure of key border crossings, Bloomberg News reported Friday.
The US mission in Geneva announced at the end of 10 days of talks that progress had been made in securing commitments for increased humanitarian aid but lamented the absence of the Sudanese armed forces.
“While we have been in constant communication with the Sudanese Armed Forces online, we regret their decision not to attend,” the Sudanese Armed Forces and other mediators said in a joint statement on Friday. “We believe this limits our ability to make more substantive progress on key issues, particularly on a nationwide ceasefire.”
The mediators were frustrated by Sudan’s military’s demands for recognition as Sudan’s official government. The Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary group that has been fighting Sudan’s military since April last year, did send representatives to the talks, as did the United Arab Emirates, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the African Union and the United Nations.
This week, U.S. special envoy for Sudan Tom Perriello traveled to Cairo, and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken held talks with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, mostly discussing the Gaza war, in a last-ditch effort to reach a deal.
Sudan’s army sent lower-level officers, rather than senior officers, from its headquarters in Port Sudan for parallel talks on the North African country’s civil war, but those talks also went nowhere, according to three people with knowledge of the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.
“The Egyptian government also planned to hold a meeting with the Port Sudan delegation, but we were told that it will be cancelled because the delegation violated the protocol,” Perillo said in a post on social media platform X on Wednesday.
Sudan’s military-run Transitional Sovereign Council said in a statement on Wednesday that its delegation to Cairo confirmed “our seriousness and sincere desire to continue peace talks.”
Adding to mediators’ anger, a key border crossing between Sudan and Chad, a major transit point for aid, was closed again on Thursday, despite Sudan’s military agreeing to open it a week ago.
“As of today, not a single truck has moved,” Eddie Lowe, the UN humanitarian coordinator in Sudan, said on Thursday. He said the UN is currently negotiating with the Sudanese government on customs clearance procedures in the hope of increasing the amount of supplies delivered.
In the past week, the World Food Programme has delivered 155 tonnes of aid, enough to feed about 13,000 people, through the Adre crossing. A Rome-based panel of hunger experts has warned that half of Sudan’s population is facing a food crisis, while the World Health Organization says cholera outbreaks have occurred in several states.
Famine was officially declared in the Zam Zam refugee camp in western Darfur this month. Last week, aid agency Doctors Without Borders said heavy fighting in the nearby town of El Fasher had led to an influx of refugees into the camp, with the Saudi hospital in the city having been shelled 11 times since May 10.
The United Nations calls the situation in Sudan, which had a pre-war population of about 46 million, the world’s largest displacement crisis.
Officials are now looking to the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 10 as the next opportunity to bring the warring parties together, according to people briefed on the talks.
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