The Chairperson of the Sudanese Sovereignty Council and Army Commander, General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, was invited by the Chairperson of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) to meet with the Commander of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo “Hemedti” in Djibouti, on 28 December, according to Sudanese sources.
The sources said that the possible meeting between the two leaders, who have been at war since 15 April, would aim to end the conflict.
Last Friday, a senior Sudanese source said that Al-Burhan had agreed to meet Hemeti on the condition of a ceasefire and the withdrawal of the RSF from residential areas, as stipulated by the “Jeddah agreement”. This followed a speech by Al-Burhan in which he said that “the army may soon be engaged in negotiations with the RSF”.
The source said that Sudanese Foreign Minister-designate Ali Al-Sadeq delivered a written message from Al-Burhan to the IGAD chairmanship, through the Djibouti ambassador in Morocco, confirming his willingness to meet Hemedti after meeting his demands.
General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan had previously hinted at the possibility of negotiating with the RSF, but stressed that he would not sign a peace agreement “that would humiliate the people and the armed forces”.
“Perhaps we will soon be engaged in peace negotiations with the RSF,” Al-Burhan said in a speech at the Red Sea Military Zone, indicating his openness to resume talks with the RSF.
“The negotiations will focus on specific points, the most important of which are the ceasefire and the rapid exit of the RSF from residential areas for civilians,” the Chairperson of the Sudanese Sovereignty Council said.
Meanwhile, the Sudanese army shelled RSF sites in central Khartoum and the Jabra neighborhood near the Armored Corps, the areas adjacent to Sports City and the “land of camps” in southern Khartoum on Tuesday.
Plumes of smoke could be seen rising from the northern neighborhoods near the Signal Corps in Bahri, where the RSF are based, and the Sudanese army targeted RSF positions in eastern Khartoum.
In the states of Gezira and Sennar in central Sudan, locals reported a tense calm inside the cities, with a complete shutdown of life, markets and health facilities, and slow movement of people in the streets.
The residents of Wad Madani and Sennar cities have been fleeing to the outskirts and other safe provinces, witnesses said.
On the other hand, the fighting between the army and the RSF on the border between the two states of Gezira and Sennar has witnessed intermittent clashes between the two sides, with continuous overflights by the army’s reconnaissance planes, according to eyewitnesses. The army has set up its defenses outside the city of Sennar in the Umm Delka region on the border with Gezira state to repel the RSF attacks, while the RSF are trying to advance from the Wad al-Haddad area, which is close to their position.
On Monday, the Sudanese army and the RSF exchanged heavy artillery fire in several areas of Khartoum, according to eyewitnesses.
Witnesses said the shelling in the capital coincided with renewed clashes between the two sides in Sennar state, southeastern Sudan.
Witnesses and residents said that the RSF launched an artillery attack, the most violent of its kind, on the headquarters of the Corps of Engineers south of Omdurman, and the Signal Corps in Bahri and Wadi Sidna north of Omdurman, while the Army responded with artillery strikes on RSF sites east and south of Khartoum.
