Sudan’s army ready for 'indirect' talks with Hemedti’s RSF via Libya, Turkey

The Sudanese army has agreed to engage in indirect negotiations with the rival Rapid Support Forces through the mediation of Libya and Turkey, as the Sudanese conflict nears its one-year anniversary next month.

In an interview with the Russian news agency Sputnik published on Tuesday, Sudan's foreign minister, Ali Al-Sadiq Ali, confirmed that Sudanese authorities are ready to hold indirect talks with the RSF in order to reach a “peaceful solution.”

“We, based on the conviction of the need for negotiations, immediately agreed [to the Libyan initiative] ... indirect negotiations are expected through the mediation of Libya and Turkey,” Al-Sadiq Ali said on the sidelines of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum held in Turkey in recent days. 

However, Al-Sadiq Ali stressed that any solution must be based on an agreement reached between the two parties during peace talks in the Saudi city of Jeddah in May 2023, under which armed factions agreed to withdraw from public facilities, including hospitals, and to allow for the safe passage of humanitarian aid and goods to reach civilians from ports and transit points, among other conditions. 

Since April 2023, the Sudanese army, led by Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, have been engaged in a bloody conflict over a power struggle, which has led to the death of more than 12,000 people and the forced displacement of nearly eight million others, according to UN figures. 

Dagalo, who is also known as Hemedti, was a fighter in the Janjaweed militia that unleashed a reign of terror in Darfur, and a fresh UN Security Council report in recent days accused the Arab-dominated Rapid Support Forces of abuses that might amount to war crimes, including targeted ethnic killings, forced displacement, looting and rape, including of minors.

Saudi Arabia and Washington brokered talks last May between the rival Sudanese parties in Jeddah in a bid to resolve the conflict. But the talks broke down one month later, as the army accused the RSF of failing to implement the terms of the agreement reached during the talks. The last round of negotiations was held last December.

Libya — which has been ruled by two rival administrations, one based in Tripoli and the other in the east — has also expressed its readiness to mediate a solution to the Sudanese crisis.

Al-Sadiq Ali’s remarks come after Burhan and Hemedti paid separate visits to the Libyan capital Tripoli last week, upon an invitation from Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, the Libyan Prime Minister of the internationally recognized government based in Tripoli. 

For its part, Turkey was one of the first countries that offered to host talks between the Sudanese rivals since the start of the conflict in April 2023. President Recep Tayyib Erdogan has repeatedly expressed his country’s readiness to mediate direct negotiations between Burhan and Dagalo, but both have refused.

The Turkish leader hosted Burhan in Ankara last September. During the meeting, Erdogan reiterated his country’s readiness “to do everything in its power if there is anything we can do for peace,” including hosting negotiations between the warring sides.

Proxy conflict

The conflict in Sudan has raised fears of a spillover in the already volatile Horn of Africa, where major international players are vying for influence.

In another interview published on Tuesday, Al-Sadiq Ali told the Russian state-run news agency RIA Novosti that Sudan does not object to an agreement on the establishment of a Russian Navy base in the country.

He said, however, the issue was sensitive and required the ratification of the Sudanese parliament as soon as a new one was elected.

A new parliament “would consider the agreement and make a recommendation for the government — a positive recommendation,” Al-Sadiq Ali said.

The deal dates back to December 2020. At the time, Russia and Sudan signed an agreement to build a naval base with up to 300 Russian troops in Port Sudan on the Red Sea that would remain in place for at least 25 years. 

Sudan has been without a parliament since the overthrow of longtime ruler President Omar al-Bashir in a popular uprising in 2019 after three decades in power. Bashir has since been held in prison in Sudan. 

Other countries have also been vying for influence in Sudan amid the country's civil strife. Iran has reportedly supplied the Sudanese army with combat drones throughout the conflict, and Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian recently hosted Al-Sadiq Ali in Tehran after the two states resumed diplomatic ties in October 2023. Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates has been accused of sending supplies to the RSF in Sudan, which Abu Dhabi denied.