Geneva — Prospects for a cease-fire deal emerging from planned U.S.-sponsored peace talks on Sudan this week are off the table for now, as the warring parties have not yet confirmed their attendance. The talks are set to take place in Geneva.
"We have had preliminary engagements with RSF. We have had extensive engagements with SAF. But they have not yet given us an affirmation, which would be necessary today for moving forward on the 14th," Tom Perriello, U.S. special envoy for Sudan, told journalists Monday in Geneva.
By RSF, he was referring to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. The SAF is the Sudanese Armed Forces. The two sides have been at war with each other since April 2023.
"We will move forward with our international partners to reach an action plan, a concrete action plan about how we can advance to a cessation of violence and have full humanitarian access, and a monitoring enforcement mechanism. These are long past due," Perriello said.
"We could do more together if SAF commits to arriving with a delegation that can make decisions. We would prefer that option, and we will mediate with the parties if they choose to do so," he said. "The RSF is not here as far as I know. But they have committed to participating if there is a commitment from SAF. We are continuing to keep those options open."
The United Nations considers Sudan to be the world's worst humanitarian crisis. The catastrophic conflict that has engulfed Sudan has displaced more than 10.7 million people inside the country and forced 2 million to flee to neighboring countries for refuge.
A recent U.N. food assessment finds 25.6 million people, or half the country's population, are facing acute hunger, and while 13 areas are at risk of famine, the U.N.'s Famine Review Committee has declared a famine in Zamzam camp near El Fasher in North Darfur.
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Previous efforts to get Sudanese peace talks under way have failed. While uncertainty regarding the presence of the two warring parties hovers over this week's talks, Perriello stressed, "We will move forward with this event on the 14th."
"It is still our goal to do everything we can along with our Swiss and Saudi co-hosts, and the participation of Egypt, the UAE, African Union and the U.N., to make progress this week," he said.
He noted that one particularly critical issue likely to be discussed is the desperate need to protect and get aid to thousands of people trapped in El Fasher, the site of intense fighting between the SAF and RSF.
"The United States has been extremely clear from the beginning of the siege of El Fasher that the RSF needed to stand down from that siege," Perriello said.
"We have spent four weeks trying to negotiate a local cease-fire for humanitarian access agreement between the parties and we will continue to be very focused on anything we can do to get relief to the affected people of El Fasher," he said. Perriello added this is not the only acute crisis in Sudan - a crisis that "has not been sufficiently heard by the international community."
This first round of peace talks is expected to last up to 10 days. The U.S. envoy said the negotiations might involve a combination of proximity talks, but that it was his intention to have "at least some in-person conversations, which is by far the best opportunity to make progress."
He added, "We will not be able to do in-person mediated talks with the parties if the parties are not there - even if only one party is not there."
