Sudan says rival generals to meet in two weeks

KHARTOUM, Sudan

An agreement has been reached for a meeting between Sudan’s army chief Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo within two weeks, according to a Sudanese official.

Nearly 1,000 people have been killed and thousands injured in clashes between the army and the paramilitary RSF since mid-April, according to local medics.

Dagalo, commonly known as Hemedti, was the deputy leader of the Transitional Sovereignty Council, before he was sacked by al-Burhan amid tension over the paramilitary group’s integration into the armed forces -- a key condition of Sudan's transition agreement with political groups.

“We agreed with mediators to hold a meeting between al-Burhan and Hemedti in two weeks,” Malik Agar, the deputy chairman of the Sovereignty Council, told Al Jazeera television.

He said the planned meeting will discuss a cease-fire and the issue of humanitarian aid.

Agar, however, did not provide any further details.

There was no confirmation of the meeting yet by al-Burhan or Hemedti.

On Monday, Kenyan President William Ruto said his country is committed to getting al-Burhan and Hemedti meet in an attempt to end the conflict in Sudan.

According to Agar, al-Burhan said he is willing to negotiate an end to the conflict.

“He has no conditions for starting the negotiations,” he added.

Sudan has been without a functioning government since October 2021, when the military dismissed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok's transitional government and declared a state of emergency, in a move widely condemned by political forces as a "coup."

The transitional period, which began in August 2019 following the ouster of President Omar al-Bashir, was originally scheduled to conclude with elections in early 2024.

*Writing by Ikram Kouachi