A top official from Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on Monday said it was “time for peace” in Sudan and the Darfur region as the conflict in the country passed its 100th day.
RSF representative Youssef Ezzat delivered his remarks in Togo, West Africa, during his participation in talks focused on averting further escalation of conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region.
The conflict in Sudan erupted in the capital city, Khartoum, on April 15 and subsequently spread to Darfur, resulting in a death toll of at least 3,000 people across Sudan and causing hundreds of thousands to be displaced.
The conflict has pitted army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan against Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who is the commander of the RSF forces.
“We are willing to participate in any kind of meeting for peace and bringing people together, and stop the war in Darfur and in Sudan,” Ezzat told media on the sidelines of the talks in Lome.
“So this is the time to end the war, to start a new future for Sudanese people, peace, development, equality. That’s what we are looking for and I think it’s time for peace in Sudan.”
Nouri Abdalla, representing a powerful Darfur rebel faction, stated that the Togo talks were focused on establishing a roadmap to halt violence in Darfur and its surrounding regions.
“It’s now in a state of chaos but not in a full-fledged civil war. That’s what we are trying to avert,” he said.
“That is why we put a roadmap and an action plan, where we could follow through that and work with other community leaders, other leaders within Darfur, even in Sudan itself,” he added.
According to Abdalla, the Lome meeting also addressed strategies for reopening Darfur’s El-Geneina airport, with the aim of placing it under RSF control to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid.