A top Sudanese official has said that a plan should be put in place to end the conflict between the army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) amid the continuing violence in the country.
The deputy head of Sudan’s Sovereign Council, Malik Agar, said on Tuesday that a caretaker government must be formed as the fighting between the sides entered its fifth month.
“At the end of the day, this war will end at a negotiating table,” said Agar, in a potential softening of the army’s stance, citing the hardships citizens have endured.
Agar said that the current focus of the government is to end the war, and the post-war era will focus on reconstruction and rebuilding of the state institutions.
He called for comprehensive dialogue by all the political civilian activists in the country with no exclusion. Agar also said that the violence should end with a single unified army in the nation.
Al Jazeera’s Hiba Morgan, reporting from Khartoum, noted that there are currently no continuing talks between the warring sides.
“Numerous ceasefires between the army and the RSF have been violated,” she said, adding that both sides accused each other of violations, fuelling mutual distrust.
“It is not clear if the two sides will return to the negotiating table anytime soon,” Morgan said.
Continuing intense fighting between the Sudanese army and the RSF has devastated the capital Khartoum and sparked ethnically driven attacks in Darfur, threatening to plunge Sudan into a protracted civil war and destabilise the region.
Efforts led by Saudi Arabia and the United States to negotiate a ceasefire have stalled, and humanitarian agencies have struggled to provide relief because of insecurity, looting and bureaucratic hurdles.
The United Nations warned on Tuesday that more than one million people have fled Sudan to neighbouring states and people inside the country are running out of food and dying due to a lack of proper healthcare after four months of war.
