Diplomats ramped up efforts to extend a shaky truce between two warring Sudanese generals to avert an escalation of a devastating conflict that has already claimed almost 500 lives.
(Bloomberg) — Diplomats ramped up efforts to extend a shaky truce between two warring Sudanese generals to avert an escalation of a devastating conflict that has already claimed almost 500 lives.
Both sides have repeatedly broken a 72-hour pause in fighting that began April 15 and has torn the north African country apart. Foreign powers fear the end of the tenuous cease-fire at midnight on Thursday will spark all-out war.
A further escalation in fighting risks sparking a conflict that spreads across Sudan’s porous borders or even morphs into a proxy battle involving regional players.
The international community is now focused on bringing the rival generals — army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who heads the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces — or their representatives to meet either in Sudan or another country.
The effort is being led by the African Union, along with the Arab League, the Gulf states, the European Union and the five permanent Security Council members.
Heads of state from Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Djibouti will hold talks about Sudan on the sidelines of a meeting in Kampala Thursday to discuss ongoing peacekeeping efforts in Somalia, a person briefed on the matter said.
Averting Somalia Redux
Click here to listen to our Twitter Space conversation about how the rival Sudanese leaders resisted renewed diplomatic efforts.
The worst case scenario would be if Sudan turns into another Somalia, which experienced years of civil war between rival clan warlords and the central authority, Alexis Mohamed, senior adviser to the president of Djibouti, said.
“We don’t want a repeat of the Somalia situation,” he said by phone.
It was still “probably too early” for both sides in Sudan to meet face to face but that things could change in the coming days, he said. Efforts now are focused on extending the cease-fire in the country and trying to create humanitarian corridors so aid can get into the country, he added.
Thousands of refugees have also flooded over borders into South Sudan, Chad and Egypt over the past two weeks, while foreign diplomats have largely evacuated. Millions of Sudanese remain trapped in Khartoum, where food and water are beginning to run out, while fighting has also broken out in six other states.
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