The United States announced Tuesday that it had invited Sudan's warring sides to hold ceasefire talks in Switzerland next month. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington had invited Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to start US-mediated negotiations beginning on August 14. "The United States remains committed to working with partners to end this devastating war," Blinken said in a statement.
The commander of the RSF, at war with the army for over a year, said he "welcomed" Blinken's invitation and that his side would join the negotiations. "I declare our participation in the upcoming ceasefire talks on August 14, 2024, in Switzerland," Mohamed Hamdan Daglo wrote on social media site X. Previous negotiations in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, have failed to put an end to fighting that has displaced millions, sparked warnings of famine and left swaths of the capital Khartoum in ruins.
Subsequent mediation attempts, including by the African Union, have failed to get the warring parties in the same room, as experts said both forces vied for the tactical advantage on the ground. For more than a year, the brutal war has raged in the northeast African country between the regular military under army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the RSF led by his former deputy Daglo. The conflict has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and uprooted more than 10 million people, including two million who have fled across borders, according to the United Nations.
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