Formal talks to end war in Sudan may restart in mid-April, US special envoy says

Formal talks aimed at ending the war in Sudan may restart in mid-April, US Special Envoy for Sudan Tom Perriello said Tuesday, as the conflict nears its one year mark.

Formal talks aimed at ending the war in Sudan may restart in mid-April, US Special Envoy for Sudan Tom Perriello said Tuesday, as the conflict nears its one-year mark. Perriello said he believes that “a number of factors have changed on the ground that make this moment more promising for resolution,” even after past rounds of talks have failed to broker a lasting end to the fighting, but noted that the odds are still not overly promising. “That is not to say that I think we have a better than 50% chance of success, but I think we have a real path with a chance, and we’re going to pursue that with everything we’ve got,” he said. Perriello told reporters that the formal talks are not expected to start until after Ramadan, with a potential date of April 18. “We hope that that will be locked in as a date soon,” he said, so people can go from a donor conference in Paris on April 15 to the talks, which would again be held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. “In the meantime, we want to use that period between now and the start of talks to be exploring every angle we can that it’s teed up for success,” he said.