Sudan’s RSF commander holds peace talks with Djibouti president

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The commander of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, has held talks with the President of Djibouti, Ismaïl Omar Guelleh, to discuss ways to end the Sudanese war.

They were meeting as Djibouti chairs the East African BLOC IGAD, which has been pushing to mediate peace talks in Sudan.

The RSF said on Tuesday it was open to an immediate, unconditional ceasefire through talks with the Sudanese army as it signed a declaration with the Taqadum civilian coalition and invited the army to do the same.

A nine-month war in Sudan, which now faces the world’s largest displacement crisis, has devastated the country’s infrastructure and prompted warnings of famine.

Attempts to end the conflict through negotiations, led by the United States and Saudi Arabia, have so far come to nothing and previous agreements to protect civilians have gone unheeded.

By signing the so-called Addis Ababa Declaration, which is intended to serve as the basis for further negotiations and apolitical settlement, the RSF has made its clearest commitment to ending the war so far.

“If the army came with this same document I would sign it immediately,” Dagalo said of the declaration, which also included commitments to return millions of displaced people to their homes, create safe passages and include civilians in peace talks. – Additional reporting by Reuters

SABC News Correspondent Naba Mohiedeen reports from Sudan: