Sudan’s warring generals OK meeting in efforts to end devastating war, a regional bloc says

Sudan slipped into chaos after soaring tensions between military chiefs Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan and Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo exploded into open fighting.

CAIRO (AP) — Sudan’s warring generals agreed to hold a face-to-face meeting as part of efforts to establish a cease-fire and initiate political talks to end the country’s devastating war, an African regional bloc said Sunday.

Sudan slipped into chaos after soaring tensions between military chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan and Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, exploded into open fighting in mid-April in the capital, Khartoum, and elsewhere across the country.

The country has been in turmoil for several years, ever since a popular uprising forced the removal of longtime dictator

The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden welcomed the generals’ commitment to a cease-fire and a face-to-face meeting and called for them to “abide by these commitments and enter talks without delay,” said Matthew Miller, spokesman for the State Department.

IGAD is part of mediation efforts to end the conflict, along with Saudi Arabia and the United States which facilitated rounds of indirect talks between the warring parties as recently as early in November.

When the war began, fighting initially centered in Khartoum but quickly spread to other areas, including the western region of Darfur.

More than 6 million people were forced out of their homes, including 1.2 million who have sought refuge in neighboring countries, according to the U.N. figures.

In Darfur, which was the site of a genocidal campaign in the early 2000s, the conflict has morphed into ethnic violence, with the RSF and allied Arab militias attacking ethnic African groups, according to rights groups and the U.N.

The U.S. State Department said earlier this month that the RSF and the Sudanese military were responsible for either war crimes or crimes against humanity, or both, in Darfur.

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