US invites Sudan's warring parties to talks co-hosted by Saudi Arabia, Switzerland

WASHINGTON — The United States has invited Sudan’s warring parties to hold cease-fire talks more than two years after war erupted in the African country. 

Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to accept an invitation to participate in cease-fire talks mediated by the United States that will begin on Aug. 14 in Switzerland. 

Saudi Arabia will co-host the talks, which will also include the African Union, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and the United Nations as observers. 

A power struggle between Sudan's top generals erupted into civil war in April 2023. More than a year of fighting between forces loyal to the country’s de facto leader, Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who heads the SAF, and Gen. Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo, who leads the RSF, has created one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. 

More than 10 million people have been displaced since the start of the war, according to the UN’s International Organization for Migration. More than 2 million people have fled across Sudan’s borders, mainly into neighboring Chad, South Sudan and Egypt. 

The talks in Switzerland seek to develop a “robust monitoring and verification mechanism” to ensure the implementation of any cease-fire agreement. 

“These talks do not aim to address broader political issues,” Blinken said. “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.”

In December, the State Department formally determined that members of both the SAF and RSF had committed war crimes in Sudan, and that the RSF and allied militias had carried out crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing in West Darfur.