As representatives of the warring sides began negotiations in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, the UN health agency announced that the death toll from the ongoing fighting in Sudan had increased to 604 deaths, including civilians.
According to Tarik Jasarevic, a spokesman for the World Health Organization, 5,100 additional individuals have been hurt as a result of the violence.
The Sudanese Doctors’ Syndicate, which solely keeps track of civilian deaths, reported on Monday that there had been 487 fatalities.
After months of rising hostilities between the military, under the command of General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and a rival paramilitary organization known as the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, under the command of General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the battle broke out on April 15.
addition to the 3.7 million people who were already internally displaced within the country before the start of the conflict, the fighting has transformed metropolitan centers into battlegrounds and displaced roughly 700,000.
The Saudi Foreign Ministry announced on Monday that negotiations between representatives of the warring parties were anticipated to go on for a few more days in the coastal city of Jeddah.
The talks are a component of a diplomatic plan that the monarchy and the US have put forth in an effort to put an end to the conflict.
General Burhan, meanwhile, charged the RSF with employing citizens as human shields and residential areas as military outposts.
He stressed that before any peace agreement could be achieved, all of their troops must be withdrawn from the capital, Khartoum, in an interview with the Egyptian TV station Al-Qahira Al-Akhbariya late on Monday.
“If this is not achieved, there will be no point in going to Saudi Arabia, or engaging in any negotiations,” he said.
“We won’t go ahead with any initiative that does not bring back normalcy and ensure the safety of our citizens.”
The RSF has not responded to General Burhan’s statement.