The States Department on Monday said the U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, has urged Sudan’s army chief, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, to reiterate the need for the Sudan’s military to participate in ceasefire talks this month in Switzerland.
Burhan had said in a statement on X (formerly Twitter) that he discussed with Blinken the necessity of addressing the Sudanese government’s concerns before starting negotiations.
In response to a recent invitation to attend U.S.-sponsored peace talks in Geneva, Sudan’s government said: “The government made clear that any negotiations before … full withdrawal and an end to expansion (by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces) will not be acceptable to the Sudanese people.”
However, the government requested meetings with U.S. officials to discuss the agenda for the talks.
The Geneva talks, which the RSF has agreed to attend, would be the first major attempt in months to mediate between the two warring sides to end the 15-month-old war.
