Geneva meeting ends without new initiatives

The United Nations and Switzerland hosted a coordination meeting in Geneva on Wednesday, 21 October, to revive the Sudan peace process. It was already the sixth meeting of this kind. Reported attendance varies: 26 countries or delegations, 27 delegations, or around 80 representatives of governments and organisations. The United States, China, Germany, Egypt, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates were among those present, alongside the African Union, the European Union and the Arab League. The meeting produced no joint declaration and no new initiatives. Hoped-for outcomes, such as a shared statement on coordinated action or pressure on the warring parties to allow humanitarian aid, did not materialise. The Swiss diplomat Tim Enderlin closed the session by calling for cooperation:

“We must work together for the good of the Sudanese people.”

Warring parties stay away

Neither the Sudanese army nor the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) attended, and civil society was absent too, a choice the organisers accepted. Their stated aim was to coordinate existing mediation channels, a task the belligerents cannot carry out themselves. Both sides still bet on a battlefield win or on improving their position by force before any talks. Pekka Haavisto, the UN secretary-general's personal envoy for Sudan, told the meeting at its opening:

“The war must end.”

Haavisto described the outcome as small steps given the catastrophic situation in the country. He also said the environmental destruction caused by the conflict was raised for the first time at the meeting.

Drone strike on Abyei market

On Monday, 19 October, a drone hit a market in Abyei, a border region that Sudan and South Sudan have both claimed since South Sudan's independence in 2011 and that a UN interim force supervises. Local authorities put the death toll at at least 153, while another report gave at least 150. A nearby fuel depot was also struck and caught fire, and many residents were driven out of the town. Earlier media reports had put the toll at dozens. One report says the RSF uses the oil-rich region as a rear base. Local authorities blame the Sudanese army for the strike, and the army has not commented. Both warring sides accuse each other of attacks, and strikes near Khartoum's airport were reported in the same week.

Three and a half years of war

Fighting between the army and the RSF has continued since April 2023, over power and economic interests. Estimates of the dead diverge: news reports speak of tens of thousands killed, while one report puts the toll above 200,000. The UN refugee agency says about 14 million people have been forced to flee, and one report counts more than 12 million people on the move. The UN human rights office says drone use, which has changed the fighting this year, killed more than 1,100 people in the first six months of the year. Aid workers face growing difficulty reaching people in need, and reports describe sexual violence, massacres and abductions. Hunger and a lack of medical care persist while large sums go to weapons, and the UAE is considered the RSF's arms supplier.