The talks aimed at ending the devastating civil war in Sudan, which has lasted for 16 months, began on Wednesday in Switzerland, although the absence of the army has weakened hopes for imminent steps to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in the country.

UN officials warned this week that Sudan is at a "catastrophic breakdown point" and that there are tens of thousands of preventable deaths due to hunger, disease, flooding, and violence in the coming months without a greater global response.

Who is participating in the talks

The U.S. special envoy to Sudan, Tom Perriello, led the push for talks but stated that direct mediation would be impossible without the presence of the Sudanese army. Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, the UN, the African Union, and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a regional body in East Africa, along with other experts, will consult on roadmaps to cease violence and implement humanitarian aid deliveries.

The Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary group that has taken control of vast areas of the country, sent a delegation to Switzerland, but their enthusiasm for the talks is unclear.

The army stated that its absence from the talks is due to the failure to implement previous commitments mediated by the U.S. and Saudi Arabia to withdraw fighters from civilian areas and facilitate aid deliveries. Mediators claim both sides have ignored this agreement.

The head of the Sudanese Armed Forces, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, stated late Tuesday, "Military operations will not stop until the last militia man withdraws from the cities and villages they have looted and occupied."

The current talks will also focus on developing an enforcement mechanism for any agreement.

How we got here

Sudan was already struggling before the latest round of fighting erupted due to sanctions and isolation during the era of former leader Omar al-Bashir.

To quell a rebellion in the Darfur region in the early 2000s, Bashir's government used the so-called Janjaweed militias, a precursor to the Rapid Support Forces. It is estimated that about 2.5 million people were displaced and 300,000 were killed in the conflict, with prosecutors at the International Criminal Court accusing government officials and Janjaweed leaders of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity in Darfur.

A coup ousted Bashir in 2019 after weeks of pro-democracy protests, during which dozens of activists were killed in demonstrations by government forces. Bashir was imprisoned, and in 2023, Sudanese officials said he had been transferred to a medical facility in prison, although no specific details were provided. Now 80 years old, he remains wanted by the International Criminal Court.

Sudan was removed from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism in 2020, opening the door to much-needed loans and foreign investment. However, in late the following year, the Sudanese army and Rapid Support Forces overthrew the fragile civilian government.

The war erupted in April 2023 between the army and the Rapid Support Forces amid disagreements over how to transition from military rule to free elections.

The Rapid Support Forces continued their operations in several regions of Sudan, heavily bombarding the cities of Omdurman, White Nile, and El Fasher, as well as moving southeast, resulting in the displacement of hundreds of thousands of civilians.

The Rapid Support Forces, led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemeti, have denied many accounts of fighters attacking civilians.

Famine in the northern refugee camp

Sudanese people face countless long-standing issues. The rainy season is in full swing, damaging homes and shelters across the country and threatening a wave of waterborne diseases. The Health Ministry reported 268 cases of cholera in Sudan last week.

The worst humanitarian crisis in the world erupted since the war began last year, with half of the 50 million population experiencing food shortages, and famine spreading in a part of the northern Darfur region.

Relief agencies have reported facing massive logistical, security, and bureaucratic issues, stating that the army has obstructed humanitarian aid, and that the Rapid Support Forces have looted aid in the areas they control. Both groups have denied hindering humanitarian operations.

Local volunteers have attempted to fill the gap but are often treated with suspicion, targeted, or face difficulties in fundraising.

The Global Hunger Monitor – an integrated food security phase classification – stated in July that restrictions on aid delivery have caused famine in the Zamzam camp for internally displaced persons in North Darfur.

Doctors Without Borders added on August 4, "Without treatment, children suffering from severe malnutrition are at risk of death within three to six weeks."

The Sudanese government has rejected descriptions of famine in the camp.

Mass displacement

The International Organization for Migration reported in July that more than 10 million Sudanese, or 20% of the population, have been displaced from their homes since the war began.

More than 2.2 million people have fled to other countries since the war started.

Dr. Shibl Al-Suhbani, representative of the World Health Organization in Sudan, said during a visit to a refugee camp in Chad, "All the refugees I met said the reason they fled Sudan was hunger."

The International Organization for Migration, in its latest bi-monthly report, stated that nearly 7.8 million Sudanese have fled to other parts of the country. An additional 2.8 million people have been displaced due to previous conflicts in the country.

The International Organization for Migration noted that as the Rapid Support Forces expanded in the southeast of the country in recent weeks, more than 150,000 people have been displaced from the state of Sennar – many of them for the second or third time – following raids by the Rapid Support Forces on markets and homes in small towns and villages in the state.

Many of the displaced are now in Gedaref State, which hosts 668,000 people facing heavy rain with limited shelter, where units of the Rapid Support Forces have carried out raids.

Human Rights Watch stated in a report in late July that the conflict and displacement have made women particularly vulnerable.

The report alleged that the Rapid Support Forces have committed widespread sexual violence in the capital Khartoum, including gang rapes and forced marriages. The report cited accounts of Rapid Support Forces detaining women and girls in conditions that could amount to sexual slavery.

The Human Rights Watch report also attributed some of the attacks to the army.