Rhino: Agencies – The US envoy, Tom Perriello, said that the Geneva ceasefire and aid delivery negotiations in Sudan will continue through ‘close virtual talks,’ after the Sudanese army refused to attend the Geneva negotiations that started on Wednesday, and a delegation of the Rapid Support attended instead, and added: ‘We will move forward with the Geneva talks regardless of how.’
In an interview with Radio Dabanga on Friday from Geneva, the US envoy said that their contacts as mediators with the Sudanese army continue several times a day, as a team and as individuals, adding: ‘We live in a modern world, where we can find ways to consult as we have done before and move forward.’
‘We also communicate regularly with both the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces through phone calls and other means,’ he said in the interview, which will be broadcast in full on Monday on Radio Dabanga.
‘In today’s modern world, we can continue these negotiations, and we will continue to do everything we can based on things like the opening of the Adra crossing, and how to ensure that translates into immediate results.
On whether the Sudanese army will send a delegation to Geneva, the US envoy said, ‘We don’t have that commitment yet from the army leadership, which is tragic.’ He continued, ‘We are in contact with the Sudanese army several times a day.
In the interview, the US envoy revealed that they would have preferred President Al-Burhan to send a high-level delegation from the army to Geneva. ‘I think we would have been able to make more progress on the issue of the cessation of hostilities. But again, both parties have already agreed to the Jeddah Declaration, and we are working hard to figure out how to implement it and reach agreements along the way, not only with the SAF and RSF, but also with all of us as international actors, who want to contribute to peace and address the famine in Sudan.
