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Sudan’s RSF forms ‘liaison committee’ to solve crisis

July 17, 2023 at 10:08 am

Smoke rises as clashes continue between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), in Khartoum, Sudan on May 1, 2023 [Ahmed Satti/Anadolu Agency]

The commander of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo has formed a liaison committee with political groups and rebel movements to reach a “political solution” to the Sudanese crisis.

In a statement issued on Saturday, Dagalo said the committee aims “to reach a comprehensive political solution” to the crisis in Sudan, adding that it will be headed by the RSF political adviser, Youssef Ezzat.

He added that the move comes in “compliance with the principle of dialogue as a basic necessity to reach a comprehensive political solution, and in view of the developments witnessed by the country due to the war, whose end requires wide-ranging consultations in order to address the roots of the accumulated national crisis.”

The committee “will hold broad consultations on the ongoing Sudanese crisis, and the best way to reach a comprehensive solution with the participation of all political, youth and societal forces,” the statement said.

There was no comment from the Sudanese army on the RSF’s move.

Earlier on Saturday, the head of the Sudanese ruling Sovereignty Transitional Council, army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, confirmed in a phone call with Kenyan President William Ruto, that the Sudanese government is ready for a ceasefire when the RSF vacates citizens’ homes, water, electricity, energy and government headquarters.

READ: Will the Cairo Summit resolve the Sudan crisis?

Meanwhile, representatives of the Sudanese army returned to the Saudi city of Jeddah to resume negotiations with the RSF, signalling reengagement in diplomatic efforts aimed at reaching a ceasefire, after boycotting last week’s talks hosted by Addis Ababa, in objection to Ruto’s chairmanship of the Quartet Committee emanating from the Association of East African Nations (IGAD).

Sudan has been ravaged by clashes between the army and the RSF since April, in a conflict that has killed some 3,000 civilians and injured thousands, according to local medics.

Several ceasefire agreements brokered by Saudi and US mediators have failed to end the violence.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) estimates that nearly three million people have been displaced by the conflict.

Last week, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the ongoing conflict in Sudan may lead to a full-scale civil war.