JAKARTA - Negotiations to end Sudan's 16-month civil war began in Switzerland on Wednesday, although the military absence has dampened hopes of immediate measures to ease the country's humanitarian crisis.
Paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which has seized most of the country's territory, sent delegates to the negotiations but direct mediation was unlikely without military presence, said US Special Envoy Tom Perriello, prompting the negotiations this week.
On the other hand, participants including Egypt, United Arab Emirates, the United Nations, the African Union, the East African agency IGAD and experts will consult a roadmap for stopping violence and carrying out humanitarian aid deliveries.
"The military operation will not stop without the withdrawal of all militiamen from the cities and villages they have looted and colonized," Sudan's chief armed forces Abdel Fattah al-Burhan said late Tuesday.
Soldiers said their absence from the negotiations arose due to a failure to implement previous US-brokered commitments to pull fighters out of civilian areas and facilitate aid deliveries. The mediators said the two sides ignored the deal.
"We focus on ensuring that the parties comply with Jeddah's commitment and (its implementation)," said Perriello on X on Wednesday.
The RSF leadership has denied many reports of fighters attacking civilians and looting, saying they were open to a peace agreement if soldiers were involved in negotiations.
RSF has continued operations in several parts of Sudan, bombarded the cities of Omdurman, Al-Obaid and Al-Fashir, and continued to advance to the southeast, displacing hundreds of thousands of civilians.
Current negotiations will focus on developing law enforcement mechanisms for each deal.
The delivery of aid to the RSF-controlled territory has been severely delayed by the government in favor of the army in Port Sudan, as well as from the robbery and looting, which are often carried out by RSF fighters, witnesses said.
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It is known that the war erupted in April 2023 amid a dispute over how to integrate the army and RSF as part of the transition from military rule to free elections.
Earlier, UN officials had warned Sudan was at a "critical point" and there would be tens of thousands of deaths preventable from starvation, disease, floods and violence in the coming months without a greater global response.
The world's worst humanitarian crisis has occurred with half of the 50 million population short of food and hunger hitting parts of North Darfur.
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