Türkiye in talks with both sides in Sudan for truce

ISTANBUL/ANKARA

Türkiye is in talks with the warring sides in Sudan for a cease-fire, the Turkish foreign minister said Wednesday.

“Both sides are our brothers in Sudan. Why should we take sides here? We are negotiating with both sides, we are negotiating to stop the conflict,” Mevlut Cavusoglu said at an event in Türkiye's Antalya province.

Cavusoglu said he was expecting a cease-fire to be reached on Thursday.

He further said Turkish citizens who want to return to their country will be evacuated from Sudan when the airspace opens on Thursday.

He said many countries, including those in Europe, have requested assistance from Türkiye to evacuate their citizens from Sudan.

Fighting raged for the 5th day between the Sudanese army and RSF fighters in Khartoum and its surrounding areas, leaving at least 270 dead and 2,600 others injured, according to the Health Ministry.

While the RSF accused the army of attacking its forces south of Khartoum with light and heavy weapons, the military said the paramilitary force was "spreading lies" and declared it a "rebel" group.

A disagreement between the two military rivals regarding military and security reform, which envisages the full participation of the RSF in the army, has turned into a hot conflict in the last few months.

The dispute between the two sides came to the surface last week, when the army said recent movements by the RSF had occurred without coordination and were illegal.

Sudan has been without a functioning government since October 2021, when the military dismissed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok’s transitional government and declared a state of emergency in a move decried by political forces as a “coup.”

Sudan’s transitional period, which started in August 2019, was scheduled to end with elections in early 2024.