US invites warring parties in Sudan to cease-fire talks

The United States on Tuesday invited the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) rebel group to cease-fire talks hosted by Saudi Arabia and Switzerland as Washington aims to end the suffering in one of the most deadly wars in the world.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the talks would be mediated by the U.S. and begin Aug. 14 in Switzerland if both parties accept the invitation. Saudi Arabia will co-host the talks, while the African Union, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and the United Nations will act as observers, according to Blinken.

Blinken said the “horrific conflict” in Sudan “has pushed millions to the brink of starvation and displaced nearly 10 million people.”

“It continues to cause immeasurable suffering for the Sudanese people. The United States remains committed to working with partners to end this devastating war,” he said in a statement.

The war in Sudan broke out in April 2023 when the RSF and the SAF clashed over control of the country following collaboration between both groups to dissolve a transitional government that had been set up following the 2019 ouster of a longtime authoritarian leader.

The fighting continues to escalate as the RSF takes control of more territory, mostly large swaths of the southeast and southwest, including the region of Darfur, where the international community largely considers a genocide to have taken place against the ethnic non-Arab population in 2003.

Both the RSF and the SAF have been accused of war crimes, with the RSF, which rose out of the Janjaweed Arab militia groups in 2003, accused of possibly repeating the Darfur genocide. Blinken said in a December statement that fighters from both militias have attacked and kidnapped women and abused detainees.

The U.S. tried to broker talks to end the war shortly after it broke out to little success, and efforts in October and December also failed. The Biden administration has also imposed visa restrictions and sanctions on the RSF and SAF.

Blinken said in his Tuesday statement that the talks in Switzerland aim to reach a cease-fire, enable humanitarian access and develop a monitoring and verification mechanism to ensure any agreement can be implemented.

The talks “do not aim to address broader political issues,” Blinken added.

“As the Sudanese people have long demanded, Sudan’s governance must return to civilians and civilians must play the leading role in defining a process to address political issues and restore Sudan’s democratic transition,” he said. “The scale of death, suffering, and destruction in Sudan is devastating. This senseless conflict must end.

“The United States calls upon the SAF and the RSF to attend the talks and approach them constructively, with the imperative to save lives, stop the fighting, and create a path to a negotiated political solution to the conflict,” he added.