Burhan confirms his conditions for attending Geneva negotiations | News

Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, head of Sudan's Transitional Sovereignty Council, said that whoever wants to stop the war must talk to the rebels who are attacking civilians in their areas, indicating that efforts are continuing to form a government to manage the transitional period.

Al-Burhan added, during his meeting with a Sudanese-Egyptian media delegation at his office in Port Sudan today, Saturday, that the government's position on any negotiations is known through the vision that was presented to the mediators.

The Sudanese army commander revealed that the US administration today agreed to one of their demands to hold a meeting that would bring them together with Saudi Arabia to discuss the implementation of the “Jeddah Declaration” signed between the army and the Rapid Support Forces.

Al-Burhan explained that after three contacts with the American side, we insisted on not attending the Geneva negotiations unless the “Jeddah Declaration” was implemented.

He stated that the US administration agreed via a letter today to meet with a delegation headed by the army, but “we will send them a delegation from the government to meet with Saudi Arabia as sponsors of the (Jeddah Declaration) to discuss the steps to implement the declaration after we delivered to them our vision in this regard earlier.”

He explained that the “Jeddah Declaration” obliges the Rapid Support Forces to leave the homes of citizens and civilian dignitaries in the states of Khartoum, Al-Jazeera, Sennar and Darfur, and “there is no going back on that, and if they refuse, we will continue to fight them to force them out,” according to his expression.

Al-Burhan stressed that the government will not go to Geneva to discuss reaching a new agreement, and if Washington is serious about peace efforts in Sudan, it should oblige the “rebel militia” to implement the Security Council resolution to end the siege of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, and stop bombing and killing civilians and destroying hospitals.

Al-Burhan during his reception of an Egyptian-Sudanese media delegation in Port Sudan (social media)

Regarding the formation of the government he promised, Al-Burhan said that consultations on it are ongoing and that discussions are underway to amend the constitutional document, reduce the number of ministries, and place the ministers of the “peace partners” and the Sovereignty Council.

The commander of the Sudanese army, which has been fighting the Rapid Support Forces for 16 months in a number of areas of the country, said that the violations committed by the militia (referring to the Rapid Support Forces) against the Sudanese people are “unprecedented in all wars in the world.”

He referred to what he described as the polarization practiced by the “Al-Dagalo militia” among the tribes and its attempt to create a social rift within them, according to his expression.

Al-Burhan expressed his thanks to Egypt for standing by Sudan and hosting the Sudanese who sought refuge there.

Geneva negotiations

Last Wednesday, talks on a ceasefire in Sudan began in Geneva, Switzerland, with US mediation, despite the Sudanese government not participating.

The talks are scheduled to last 10 days under American and Saudi sponsorship, with the African Union, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and the United Nations attending as observers.

At the end of last July, Washington called on the two warring parties to a new round of negotiations in Switzerland to end the war that has been going on for nearly 16 months.

Washington says the aim of the discussions is to expand the scope of humanitarian aid delivery and create a monitoring and auditing mechanism to ensure the implementation of any agreement, but the Sudanese side questions the reason for moving the negotiations from Jeddah to Switzerland.

Consultations between a Sudanese government delegation and an American one ended last week in Jeddah without agreement on the parameters of the Swiss negotiations after the Sudanese authorities expressed their reservations about their mechanism and expressed their disagreement with the United States regarding the participants.

Battles have been ongoing in several areas of Sudan since April 15, 2023, between the army led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti) in a war that has left about 18,800 dead and more than 10 million displaced and refugees (according to the United Nations) and destroyed the country's infrastructure, with losses estimated at more than $150 billion, according to some government statistics.

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