Airstrikes in Sudan ahead of direct talks

KHARTOUM — Airstrikes battered Sudan's capital on Saturday as fighting entered the fourth week only hours before the warring parties were to meet in Saudi Arabia for their first direct talks.

Hundreds of people have been killed since the outbreak of the conflict on April 15 between General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who leads the regular army, and General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF.

In the fighting, warplanes have bombed targets in Khartoum, and the rival generals' forces have engaged in intense street battles in the city of 5 million inhabitants. Many truces have been reached, but none has been respected.

In a joint statement, Saudi Arabia said the army and the RSF would hold direct discussions in the Saudi city of Jeddah on Saturday, describing them as "pre-negotiation talks".

Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan confirmed "the presence of representatives "from both sides, but there was no immediate indication that the talks had begun.

A Sudanese army spokesman, Brigadier General Nabil Abdalla, said the talks were "only over the truce and how it can be correctly implemented to serve the humanitarian side for civilians".

Daglo, commonly known as Hemeti, took to Twitter to welcome the talks.

The general affirmed "the need to reach a civilian transitional government that … achieves the aspirations of our people".

On Saturday morning, witnesses said warplanes pounded various parts of Khartoum, where the telecommunications company MTN said all of its services had been interrupted.

Burhan had given his backing to a seven-day cease-fire announced by South Sudan on Wednesday, but early on Friday the RSF said it was extending by three days a previous truce brokered under foreign mediation.

The joint statement noted the efforts of other countries and organizations behind this weekend's talks, including Britain, the United Arab Emirates, the Arab League, the African Union and other groups.

However, an analyst warned there was little consensus about what to do beyond establishing a cease-fire.

"The lowest common denominator of the international community is a cessation of hostilities, but there is no apparent consensus on what to do beyond that initial objective," said Aly Verjee, Sudan researcher at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden.

At least 700 people have been killed in the fighting, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, an NGO.

Agencies Via Xinhua