Senior commanders of Sudan’s army and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) met three times this month in Bahrain in the first such degree of communication between the warring sides in the nine-month-old conflict, sources familiar with the matter said.
Officials from Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, the United States and Saudi Arabia attended the unannounced talks in Manama, which came after repeated attempts by the two powers and East African countries to broker a ceasefire and reach a political agreement to end the war without much progress, the sources said, according to Reuters.
The sources pointed out that the Sudanese army in the Bahraini capital Manama was represented by Major General Shams al-Din Kabashi, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, and the Rapid Support Forces were represented by Major General Abdul Rahim Dagalo, brother of Rapid Support Forces Commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti).
One participant said the two sides had agreed in principle on a declaration of principles that included preserving the unity of Sudan and its army.
The source added that further talks were planned to discuss a ceasefire, but a follow-up meeting was postponed last week.