Rhino: Agencies – Sudan’s rival political factions attended formal reconciliation talks in Cairo on Saturday, the first since the country’s conflict erupted nearly 15 months ago, but acknowledged that the chances of a quick end to the war appeared slim.

At the conference, the military-aligned Democratic Bloc refused to hold joint sessions with the Coordination of Civilian Democratic Forces (Taqaddum), which it accuses of sympathizing with the RSF. Neither the military nor the RSF attended the talks.

Sudan’s war, which broke out in April 2023, has forced nearly ten million people from their homes and triggered famine warnings and waves of ethnic violence largely blamed on the RSF.

Last week, the RSF entered Sennar state, causing a new displacement of residents. In response, Sudan’s army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan said the army would not negotiate with the RSF or its supporters.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdel Aty said the dramatic deterioration of the humanitarian situation and the catastrophic consequences of this crisis require an immediate and sustained cessation of military operations.

At the end of last year, talks hosted by the Saudi city of Jeddah between the army and the RSF under the auspices of the US and Saudi Arabia collapsed.

The Coordination of Civilian Democratic Forces is a coalition calling for an end to the war that includes pro-democracy parties, armed groups and civil society organisations. The democratic bloc aligned with the military includes a number of leaders of armed groups involved in the fighting.

Despite Egypt’s success in bringing these factions together, the main attendees sat on opposite sides of the hall facing each other at the opening of the conference.

The two political factions only agreed to form a small subcommittee to come up with a final statement calling for an end to the war, which three of the Democratic Bloc leaders refused to sign.

Former Sudanese prime minister and head of the Coordination of Civilian Democratic Forces (CCDF) Abdalla Hamdok rejected accusations that the CCDF is linked to the RSF, saying he was waiting for the army’s approval for the meeting.

He told Reuters that a complex and difficult crisis like this is not expected to be resolved in a single meeting, and called for patience and building on any positive outcomes that come out of this meeting.

US special envoy to Sudan Tom Perriello said he hoped the momentum of Saturday’s talks would carry through to another meeting called by the African Union (AU) days later, one of several initiatives.