Sudan’s Agar anticipates Jeddah Talks will focus on prior agreements’ implementation
October 24, 2023 (KHARTOUM) – Malik Agar, Deputy Chairman of the Sovereign Council in Sudan, has indicated that the upcoming round of talks in Jeddah between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) will be primarily focused on the implementation of previously agreed-upon matters.
On Sunday, Shams al-Din Kabbashi, the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Sudanese Army, announced that the Sudanese Armed Forces delegation is set to participate in the Jeddah talks scheduled for Thursday, October 26.
For his part Agar in statements to Arab World Press on Monday stressed “The next round is related to implementing what was agreed upon (before) in Jeddah. There is no new agenda in the Jeddah platform, but rather one item, which is implementing what was agreed upon.”
He also noted that the sponsors of the Jeddah platform, namely Saudi Arabia and the United States, believed it was feasible to resume these negotiations at this time. He mentioned that the negotiations had come to a halt in June for what he described as “objective” reasons.
When asked about his level of optimism concerning the success of the upcoming negotiations, Agar stated, “All parties go to negotiations optimistic. When you go to the negotiating table, you go optimistic about its success, otherwise, there is no good reason to be at that table.”
This announcement of the resumption of Jeddah negotiations follows more than six months after the outbreak of hostilities between the army and the RSF on April 15.
On May 11, the Army and the RSF signed a commitment to protect civilians and allow unimpeded access for aid workers to reach those affected by the conflict. According to this agreement, the parties were supposed to establish a ceasefire, facilitating the delivery of urgent humanitarian assistance and the restoration of essential services.
However, the negotiations failed to reach a ceasefire agreement, primarily because the army insisted on the RSF’s withdrawal from cities in Khartoum and Darfur, a demand that the paramilitary group rejected.
(ST)