Sudan’s warring factions are not taking advantage of talks facilitated by the United States and Saudi Arabia meant to yield a permanent ceasefire they originally agreed, a senior U.S. State Department official said on Tuesday.
The United States is now consulting with Saudi Arabia and other partners, including in the Arab world and in Africa, about a path forward and hopes to announce a recommended approach in the next few days, the U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told reporters in Washington.
“We think we’ve given them every shot. We’ve given them this venue to try and come together and try and find a way forward that doesn’t involve achieving an outcome that’s based on violence or military dominance,” the official said.
“They are clearly not taking advantage of the format that we’ve given them. It’s not succeeding in the way they had originally agreed in terms of this step-by-step process to reach a permanent cessation of hostilities.”
The war between Sudan’s regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has raged for almost two months, forcing almost 2 million people to flee and wrecking the economy, causing frequent electricity and water outages.
Talks in Jeddah have failed to permanently halt fighting and clashes intensified as soon as a frequently violated ceasefire pact expired on Sunday.
Air strikes, artillery and gunfire rocked several areas of the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Monday with further fighting trapping civilians in a worsening humanitarian crisis.
A second senior State Department official told reporters there was a “dawning realization” among the parties to the conflict that there is no acceptable military solution.
But this had not yet translated into the willingness to take tangible steps to lock in a longer cease-fire and a broader permanent cessation of hostilities, the official said.
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