Sudan: army suspends truce negotiations and accuses RSF of not respecting anything

The Sudanese army announced Wednesday morning, May 31, suspending its participation in discussions organized since early May by the United States and Saudi Arabia. The announcement comes two days after the extension of the truce agreed with the Rapid Support Forces, a truce that had hardly been respected since it was signed.

The announcement of the army's suspension of truce negotiations was announced two days after the extension of a truce that has been poorly respected. Here, Sudanese army chief Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan walks with his troops, in an unknown locality, May 30, 2023. © Sudanese Armed Forces / via Reuters

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A Sudanese government source made the rounds of international media on Wednesday morning to announce the news: the army is "suspending" its participation in the Jeddah, Saudi Arabia talks. According to AFP, this is because their adversaries in the Rapid Support Forces "never implemented any of the provisions of the short-term ceasefire, which required their withdrawal from hospitals and residential buildings, and violated the truce on several occasions".

In fact, the extension of the truce - signed in extremis on Monday evening, April 29, just before its expiry - and the initial truce itself - signed a week earlier - have never really held on the ground.

A civil organization, the "Network of Young Citizen Observers", published a damning report on Wednesday in this regard. It indicates that since 20 May, "numerous violations" have been noted "on both sides": non-respect of the ceasefire, use of heavy weapons, air strikes, civilians "arrested and attacked" and "their movements restricted", occupation of hospitals and private homes, both in Khartoum and in the Darfur States and Northern Kordofan.

Also on Tuesday evening, heavy fighting was reported in the three towns that make up the capital, as well as in Nyala, El-Obeid and Kutum in North Darfur. And exceptional security measures have been put in place in Port Sudan. The city had hitherto been spared, for fear of the infiltration of agitators into the city.

>> READ ALSO: Sudan: the UN envoy fears an "ethnicization" of the conflict that would complicate it

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• Sudan
• Abdel Fattah al-Burhan