Sudan says rival generals to meet in two weeks
KHARTOUM, Sudan
An agreement has been reached for a meeting between Sudan’s army chief Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo within two weeks, according to a Sudanese official.
Nearly 1,000 people have been killed and thousands injured in clashes between the army and the paramilitary RSF since mid-April, according to local medics.
Dagalo, commonly known as Hemedti, was the deputy leader of the Transitional Sovereignty Council, before he was sacked by al-Burhan amid tension over the paramilitary group’s integration into the armed forces — a key condition of Sudan’s transition agreement with political groups.
“We agreed with mediators to hold a meeting between al-Burhan and Hemedti in two weeks,” Malik Agar, the deputy chairman of the Sovereignty Council, told Al Jazeera television.
He said the planned meeting will discuss a cease-fire and the issue of humanitarian aid.
Agar, however, did not provide any further details.
There was no confirmation of the meeting yet by al-Burhan or Hemedti.
On Monday, Kenyan President William Ruto said his country is committed to getting al-Burhan and Hemedti meet in an attempt to end the conflict in Sudan.
According to Agar, al-Burhan said he is willing to negotiate an end to the conflict.
“He has no conditions for starting the negotiations,” he added.
Sudan has been without a functioning government since October 2021, when the military dismissed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok’s transitional government and declared a state of emergency, in a move widely condemned by political forces as a “coup.”
The transitional period, which began in August 2019 following the ouster of President Omar al-Bashir, was originally scheduled to conclude with elections in early 2024.
*Writing by Ikram Kouachi
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