Sudan negotiation talks fall apart as warring factions blame each other for ceasefire violations

The Sudanese army called off its participation in the ceasefire talks, which were brokered by the US and Saudi Arabia, on Wednesday as it accused its paramilitary foes of not honouring their commitments. Notably, the warring factions haveaccused each other of cease-fire violations.

The mediators in Jeddah, the Saudi Red Sea city, have acknowledged that both sides have repeatedly violated the truce, but so far no sanctions have been imposed with the hope of keeping the warring parties on the negotiating table.

The army walked out "because the rebels have never implemented a single one of the provisions of a short-term ceasefire which required their withdrawal from hospitals and residential buildings," said a Sudanese government official.

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The army stated that the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) also "repeatedly violated the truce".

ALSO READ |Sudan: Warring parties agree to extend tottering ceasefire by five days

On Monday, US and Saudi mediators said that the warring parties agreed to increase their humanitarian truce, which had been violated frequently in the previous week, by five days.

The mediators accepted that the truce had been "imperfectly observed", however, it stated that the extension "will permit further humanitarian efforts".

However, even after both sides pledged, fighting flared again on Tuesday both in the western region of Darfur and in greater Khartoum

"The army is ready to fight until victory," declared army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan while visiting the troops in the capital.

The RSF, headed by Burhan's deputy-turned-foe Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, stated they will "exercise their right to defend themselves" and held the army responsible for violating the truce.

Fears of breakdown

Sudan specialist Aly Verjee said that the mediators were trying to avoid a complete breakdown of talks, as they feared a major escalation on the ground.

"The mediators know that the situation is bad but they do not want to state that a ceasefire is gone for fear that the situation would then become even worse," stated Verjee, a researcher at Sweden's University of Gothenburg.

"The hope is that by keeping the parties talking, the prospects of arrangements that are better respected will eventually improve," he added.

WATCH |Refugees flee fighting Sudan

Since rival security forces started fighting on April 15, more than 1,800 people have been killed, stated the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project.

The United Nations stated that more than a million people were internally displaced and around 350,000 have fled abroad, which includesover 170,000 to Egypt.

The UN stated that more than half the population - 25 million people -- now need aid and protection.

Khartoum's entire district no longer has running water and electricity is available to people only for a few hours a week, and almost three-quarters of hospitals are out of service in combat zones.

(With inputs from agencies)

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