The News
The Sudanese government will speak with officials from the US as it prepares for ceasefire talks that could end its civil war.
For 16 months, the Sudanese army has been tangled in a conflict with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary organization. The crisis has displaced millions of Sudanese, and has led to the world’s first famine in nearly eight years.
SIGNALS
Refugee camp is epicenter of famine
A refugee camp near Darfur has become a flashpoint for the crisis. It houses roughly half a million people, and was last week declared to be experiencing a famine. The starvation crisis, aid organizations argue, is “entirely man-made,” The Wall Street Journal reported. Just one aid crossing into Darfur is operational, and supplies that do make it to the camp are often held up by nearby fighting or directly by the RSF. Children are severely emaciated, and life-saving aid is rationed. “We have been surviving on water and leaves,” one mother living in the camp told the Journal.
Sudanese disillusioned with peace process
Critics have worried about a “proliferation” of peace processes, with several organizations and stakeholders taking part in ceasefire discussions. “The situation is encouraging the antagonists to forum-shop and buy time while the humanitarian crisis plunges Sudanese into the abyss,” Maram Mahdi, a researcher at the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies, wrote. This undermines leverage used by negotiators, she added, because warring sides can wait for proposals that are attractive to them. “A single, coordinated process is needed that includes deadlines and reflects the military footprint of the RSF and [the Sudanese army],” Mahdi argued.