Sudanese Armed Forces Commander Visits Libya for Ceasefire Talks

By Al Mayadeen English

26 Feb 2024 16:26

Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has arrived in Libya following a ceasefire proposal by Mohamed al-Menfi, the chairman of the Libyan Presidential Council.

Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the head of the Sudanese Sovereignty Council and commander of the country's regular armed forces, arrived in the Libyan capital of Tripoli on Monday to discuss a ceasefire proposal regarding the Sudanese war. 

He was greeted by Mohamed al-Menfi, the chairman of the Libyan Presidential Council, at the airport, and will later meet with the head of the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity (GNU), Abdul Hamid Dbeibah. 

The GNU revealed last week that Dbeibah initiated a ceasefire proposal and will be inviting both warring sides for negotiations over the Sudan war. On Saturday, Dbeibah held talks with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo and invited him to Libya on a diplomatic visit. 

The war in Sudan is rapidly transcending into a more dangerous horizon, specifically amid the most recent developments. 

Authorities loyal to the Sudanese army blocked aid deliveries to the Darfur region, one of the most affected regions by the war, a movie decried by aid workers and the United States. 

For over two decades in Darfur, the RSF has employed the "scorched earth" war tactic, involving the deliberate widespread destruction of property and resources. Currently, the RSF has captured four out of the five major cities in the region. 

Due to the destruction the region is seeing, almost 650,000 Darfur citizens fled to the bordering country of Chad, but many remain stuck in the face of the dangers of war and blocked aid. 

In this context, the United Nations, which had already been limiting its Darfur-Chad cross-border operation, revealed that authorities have blocked the border, shutting the corridor for relief aid, and restricting the operation itself, the World Food Program's country director Eddie Rowe said. 

The Sudanese foreign ministry, loyal to the Sudanese Army Forces (SAF), has denied all US allegations, calling them "false accusations", and also revealed that the Chad-Darfur border was being used to smuggle weapons that allowed the RSF to "commit atrocities" in the region.

The blockage of aid would have detrimental effects on Darfur, which is already struggling. An international aid worker told AFP that "Children and babies are already dying from hunger and malnutrition. There will be an immense human impact... and quite possibly large-scale mortality rates."