Army leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan's change of heart on joining the talks has dampened hopes that they will lead to an end to the 16-month war.
A new round of talks aimed at ending a 16-month civil war in Sudan that has sparked a humanitarian crisis in the northeast African country has begun in Switzerland, despite the absence of the military.
Army leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan's decision to join the US-led negotiations dampened hopes that Wednesday's proceedings would lead to a breakthrough with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo.
Both sides have been fighting a bloody civil war since April last year.
“Talks have begun,” a spokesman for the US mission in Geneva told AFP, adding that there was “no change” in the non-participation of the Sudanese army.
Al-Burhan struck a defiant tone after the military said the general survived a drone strike during a military celebration in eastern Sudan last month.
On Tuesday he continued that stance, saying: “Military operations will not stop without the withdrawal of every last militant from the towns and villages they have plundered and colonized.”
The Sudanese military has repeatedly accused the RSF of failing to honour commitments to withdraw fighters from civilian areas and facilitate the delivery of aid, which were part of an agreement reached in direct talks last year in Saudi Arabia that led to a brief pause in fighting.
Mediators have said both sides have violated the terms of the agreement.
The RSF, for its part, has repeatedly denied any abuses against civilians or looting, although it continues to heavily shell the towns of Omdurman, El Obeid and El Fasher. It has sent a delegation to the negotiations in Switzerland and has said it is open to a new peace deal if the army enters into talks.
Also present in Geneva on Wednesday were representatives from Egypt, the United Nations, the African Union, the East African body IGAD (Intergovernmental Authority on Development) and the United Arab Emirates, which has repeatedly denied accusations that it is providing arms and other military support to the RSF.
'Cataclysmic breaking point'
Al-Burhan and Hemedti had loosely shared power after the ouster of President Omar al-Bashir in 2021. But tensions over plans to integrate their two forces boiled over last year and escalated into a full-scale war.
Fighting initially began in the capital, Khartoum, and the RSF eventually seized most of the Darfur region and Gezira state. The army-led government has since moved to Port Sudan on the east coast.
Both sides have been accused of committing abuses, including attacks on civilians, indiscriminate shelling of residential areas and obstructing aid deliveries.
According to the UN, the conflict has killed tens of thousands of people and led to the internal displacement of more than 10.7 million people. Another 2.3 million refugees have fled the country, according to the International Organization for Migration.
This week, UN officials warned that Sudan is at a “catastrophic tipping point” and predicted tens of thousands of preventable deaths from hunger, disease, flooding and violence in the coming months if the fighting does not end.
