Sudan’s army has suspended its participation in talks over a ceasefire and humanitarian access, raising fears of renewed fighting that has displaced hundreds of thousands of people.
The talks with the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) began in the Saudi Arabian port city of Jeddah in early May and produced a declaration of commitments to protecting civilians and two short-term ceasefire deals that have been repeatedly violated.
The army and the RSF had agreed to extend a weeklong ceasefire deal by five days just before it was due to expire late on Monday.
The general command of the armed forces said in a statement on Wednesday that it suspended talks, accusing the other side of a lack of commitment in implementing any terms of the agreement and a continuous violation of the ceasefire.
“The General Command of the Armed Forces has decided to suspend the current talks in Jeddah due to the rebel militia’s lack of commitment to the implementation any of the terms of the agreement and its continuous violation of the ceasefire,” according to the statement posted on Sudan News Agency website.
A spokesman for the army, Brigadier Nabil Abdalla, also told the Associated Press news agency the decision was in response to the RSF’s alleged “repeated violations” of the humanitarian ceasefire, including their continued occupation of hospitals and other civilian infrastructure in the capital, Khartoum.
In a statement, the RSF accused the army of halting the talks in Jeddah so that it could undermine them and of violating the ceasefire by using airpower and heavy artillery to attack its positions.
Later on Wednesday, the African Union (AU) said the suspension of talks should not discourage further attempts at mediation.
“In difficult negotiations, it is a classic phenomenon that one party suspends or threatens to suspend” its participation, Mohamed El Hacen Lebatt, chief of staff to the AU Commission president, and its spokesman for the Sudan crisis, told AFP news agency.