The Sudanese government wants the Geneva humanitarian talks with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to be held indirectly and without media coverage.
The decision comes as delegations from the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) arrived in Geneva for the discussions.
In a press statement received by Radio Tamazuj on Sunday, Sudanese government spokesperson Graham Abdel Qader said: “The Sudanese government delegation, led by Salwa Adam Binya, Commissioner of Humanitarian Aid, was surprised to be invited to the Geneva Conference Center for a round of negotiations. Despite the nature of the invitation from the personal envoy indicating indirect discussions, the Sudanese government delegation has not received any agenda or program after arriving in Geneva.”
Qader emphasized that the situation contradicted the spirit of the indirect negotiations.
The statement further noted that the government delegation saw no reason for direct negotiations as that contradicted the understanding of keeping the discussions confidential, as requested by the UN Secretary-General’s personal envoy.
The statement reiterated that the Sudanese government did not see the need for a new mediation, as it remains committed to the Jeddah platform, stressing the necessity of implementing those commitments. The government emphasized that it would not deal with any parallel body apart from the competent Humanitarian Aid Commission.
Sudanese political analyst Essam El-Din Khidr viewed the attempts to undermine the Geneva negotiations as part of the ongoing conflict between the two sides.
Khidr stated: “The humanitarian issue is fundamentally linked to the ceasefire process, and any attempt to address the humanitarian situation must be accompanied by negotiations on a ceasefire.”
War has raged since April 2023 between the Sudanese regular army under Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, led by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s personal envoy for Sudan, Ramtane Lamamra, invited delegations from the army and the RSF for talks in Geneva, focused on humanitarian aid and protecting civilians.