Sudan Peace Talks in Switzerland Begin Amid Military Absence

Talks aiming to resolve Sudan's 16-month-old civil war started in Switzerland but the absence of military representatives clouds the prospects of immediate relief for the ongoing humanitarian crisis. The U.N. highlights the imminent threat of tens of thousands of deaths due to hunger, disease, and violence unless a more significant global response is initiated.

Talks aimed at ending Sudan's shattering 16-month-old civil war began on Wednesday in Switzerland, though the absence of the military has dampened hopes for immediate steps to alleviate the country's humanitarian crisis. U.N. officials have warned that Sudan is at "breaking point" and that there will be tens of thousands of preventable deaths from hunger, disease, floods, and violence in the coming months without a larger global response. The paramilitary RSF, which has seized broad swathes of the country, sent a delegation to the talks, but U.S. special envoy Tom Perriello noted that direct mediation would be impossible without the army present.

Instead, participants, including Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, the United Nations, the African Union, the East African body IGAD, and experts, would consult on roadmaps for cessation of violence and executing humanitarian aid deliveries. "Military operations will not stop without the withdrawal of every last militiaman from the cities and villages they have plundered and colonised," Sudanese armed forces chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan said Tuesday.

The RSF leadership has denied many accounts of fighters attacking civilians and looting, and says it is open to a peace deal if the army engages in talks. However, the army has cited the failure to implement previous U.S.- and Saudi-brokered commitments to pull combatants out of civilian areas and facilitate aid deliveries as the reason for its absence from the talks. Mediators contend that both sides disregarded that accord. "We are focused on ensuring parties comply with their Jeddah commitments and their implementation," Perriello said on Wednesday. Current talks will also focus on developing an enforcement mechanism for any deal. The RSF has continued operations in several areas of Sudan, displacing hundreds of thousands of civilians amid bombings and looting. With the rainy season in full swing, waterborne diseases like cholera are surging. Aid deliveries into RSF-controlled areas have been delayed, worsening the humanitarian crisis originally sparked by disputes on integrating the army and RSF as part of a transition to free elections.

(With inputs from agencies.)