KHARTOUM, May 9 ------ Air strikes again shook Sudan's capital Monday while the latest truce talks in Jeddah yielded no progress and a Saudi diplomat said both sides consider themselves "capable of winning the battle".
Sudan was thrown into deadly chaos when fighting broke out on April 15 between the forces of army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy-turned-rival Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who heads the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The battles have since killed hundreds, wounded thousands and uprooted hundreds of thousands, leading to fears of security fallout beyond Sudan's borders. Those unable to escape are left barricaded inside their homes struggling to survive with dire shortages of essential supplies and communication links disrupted.
The feuding generals have sent representatives to Saudi Arabia for talks on establishing a humanitarian truce in an effort also backed by the United States, but to no avail so far. By Monday, the talks had yielded "no major progress", a Saudi diplomat told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. "A permanent ceasefire isn't on the table... Every side believes it is capable of winning the battle," the diplomat added. For Kholood Khair, founder of the Khartoum-based think tank Confluence Advisory, the delegations "are there mostly to curry favour with the Saudis and the Americans, rather than to credibly use this platform as a means to reach an agreement."
In Khartoum, a city of five million, terrified residents reported more combat, now in its fourth week, as they hid in their homes, trying to cope with power outages and sweltering heat. A southern Khartoum resident told AFP the family could hear "the sound of airstrikes which appeared to come from near a market in central Khartoum".
Source: news.abs-cbn.com