General
As Famine Deepens in Sudan, U.S. Leads New Push for Ceasefire
The American-backed talks in Switzerland, starting on Wednesday, aim to halt a catastrophic civil war. But only one side says it will turn up.
The United States is initiating new peace talks on Wednesday that are aimed at stopping Sudan’s catastrophic civil war, with this push for dialogue driven by growing alarm that the conflict is sending the country deeper into a famine that experts warn could become the world’s worst in decades.
But Sudan’s military, one of the war’s two main belligerents, has said it will not attend the negotiations in Switzerland, stymying hopes of a quick cease-fire in a fight between the forces of rival generals that has now lasted 16 months.
Famine was officially declared earlier this month in Sudan’s western Darfur region, and other areas are expected to follow. By one estimate as many as 2.5 million Sudanese could die from hunger by the end of September.
Appalled at the scale of the war-induced catastrophe in Sudan, a sprawling country in northeastern Africa, American officials said it was urgent to begin the new peace drive, even if chances of a breakthrough seem slim.
Lt. Gen. Mohamed Hamdan, the paramilitary leader whose Rapid Support Forces are fighting the military, reiterated on Monday that his side would attend the talks. But after a drone strike appeared to target the army leadership at a parade in eastern Sudan on July 31, the military chief, Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, spurned the meeting.
“We will not retreat, we will not surrender and we will not negotiate,” General al-Burhan told troops.
