Sudan ceasefire talks start despite army no-show

US-sponsored talks on agreeing a ceasefire in the devastating conflict in Sudan kicked off in Switzerland on Wednesday, despite the Sudanese government staying away.

War has raged since April 2023 between the Sudanese army under the country’s de facto ruler Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

“The talks have started,” a spokesman for the US mission in Geneva told AFP, adding that there was “no change” to the non-participation of the Sudanese government.

The brutal conflict has triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

While the RSF is taking part in the talks, the Sudanese armed forces (SAF) are unhappy with the format arranged by Washington.

“The RSF delegation has arrived in Switzerland. Our US delegation, and the collective international partners, technical experts and Sudanese civil society, are still waiting on the SAF. The world is watching,” Tom Perriello, the US special envoy for Sudan, said before the talks began.

He urged the government to “seize the opportunity”, saying after the opening session that it was “high time for the guns to be silenced”.

– Humanitarian access –
The talks, which could last up to 10 days, are being held behind closed doors in an undisclosed location in Switzerland.

They are co-hosted by Saudi Arabia and Switzerland, with the African Union, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and the United Nations acting as a steering group.

Sudanese Media Minister Graham Abdelkader said ahead of the talks that the government was rejecting “any new observers or participants” — after Washington “insisted on the participation of the United Arab Emirates as an observer”.

The Sudanese army has repeatedly accused the UAE of backing the RSF.

Without the SAF, other attendees will press on with the talks’ agenda.

The fighting has forced one in five people to flee their homes, while tens of thousands have died. More than 25 million across the country — more than half its population — face acute hunger.

“Our focus is to move forward to achieve a cessation of hostilities, enhance humanitarian access and establish enforcement mechanisms that deliver concrete results,” Perriello said.

– Pressure on Burhan –
Previous talks in the Saudi city of Jeddah came to nothing.

Ramtane Lamamra, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ personal envoy on Sudan, held separate meetings in Geneva last month with the warring parties to discuss humanitarian aid and protecting civilians.

He is leading the UN observer delegation and wants “tangible progress towards an immediate ceasefire,” urging both sides to “commit to genuine dialogue”, the United Nations said.

Alan Boswell, the Horn of Africa project director at the International Crisis Group, said Burhan was facing “serious internal divisions”, with some in his camp in favour of talks and others “fiercely opposed”.

“Restarting the talks at all would be a breakthrough, given that there have not been formal talks since last year,” he told AFP.

Notably, with the United States in charge, and Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt present, “that puts all the main outside actors with leverage over the warring parties in one room together”, he added.

A government no-show leaves Burhan under mounting external pressure, if he is seen as “the main obstacle to ending the war”, Boswell said.

– No let-up in fighting –
Cameron Hudson, from the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Africa programme, said Washington had “tried to create the illusion of momentum” to force the SAF’s hand, “but it was a bluff and the SAF saw through it.”

“They know that Washington does not have the stomach to impose real consequences on them for non-compliance,” he told AFP.

“The only way to get them to talk is through brute force: either the risk of losing the war on the battlefield, the risk of real diplomatic isolation, and the risk of real economic devastation for them. None of that pressure currently exists.”