Saudi FM, Blinken discuss to host Sudan warring parties in Jeddah

Riyadh, The Gulf Observer: Saudi foreign minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan received on Friday a phone call from the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the Kingdom’s foreign ministry said.

During their call, they discussed the developments of a joint initiative to host both Sudanese warring parties in Jeddah, the statement added.

The joint initiative aims at “reducing the levels of tension” in Sudan, the statement also said.

Also on Friday, the Sudanese army said that it had sent envoys to Saudi Arabia to discuss “details of the truce in the process of being extended” with its paramilitary foes.

Regular army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan had given his backing to a seven-day ceasefire announced by South Sudan on Wednesday, but early on Friday the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces said they were extending by three days a previous truce brokered under US-Saudi mediation.

Multiple truces have been agreed since the fighting between the rival security forces erupted on April 15, but none has been respected.