A meeting of rival Sudanese political factions took place in Cairo on Saturday, the first since the war began in April 2023, with the Democratic Bloc, allied with the Sudanese army, refusing to hold joint meetings with the Sudanese Coordination of Civil Democratic Forces (Taqaddum), accused of sympathizing with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The army and the RSF, the two main combatants, were not present at the talks. The conference, facilitated by Egypt, saw the factions seated separately, highlighting the deep divisions.
While the two sides agreed to form a subcommittee to issue a communiqué calling for an end to hostilities, three Democratic Bloc leaders, including Finance Minister Jibril Ibrahim, Darfur region governor Minni Minawi, and Sovereign Council deputy Malik Agar, refused to sign the statement.
"We told them [the Egyptians] not to have high ambitions for this meeting," said Ibrahim. He emphasized that a ceasefire was unrealistic without the RSF's withdrawal from civilian areas and the cessation of support for the RSF by some regional actors.
Former Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, head of Taqaddum, rejected accusations of the coalition's ties to the RSF and stated his willingness to meet with the army.
"A crisis this complicated and deep is not expected to end in one meeting... The lesson is for us to be patient and to build on anything positive that comes out of it," Hamdok said.
Since it began on April 15, 2023, the conflict in Sudan between the national army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, led by former deputy chairman of the Sudanese Sovereign Council Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, has resulted in the killing of over 15,000 civilians and the displacement of nearly 10 million people, triggered famine warnings, and fueled waves of ethnically motivated violence largely blamed on the RSF.
The situation in the North African country escalated due to disagreements between the head of the RSF and the chairman of the sovereign council and army commander, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. The disagreements were over the formation of a unified armed force and the designation of the commander-in-chief.
The Cairo talks are one of several overlapping initiatives aimed at ending the Sudanese conflict. The African Union has also called for a meeting next week.