US State Department: Saudi Arabia is one of the most important partners in the region

The US State Department confirmed today, Monday, that Saudi Arabia is one of the most important partners in the region, indicating that Washington and Riyadh have common security and economic interests.

In a joint statement, the United States of America and Saudi Arabia welcomed the start of preliminary talks that began on Saturday in Jeddah between representatives of the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces to stop the ongoing fighting between the two parties since mid-April.

Washington and Riyadh, in a statement published by the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs on May 6, urged the two parties to engage seriously in the talks in order to achieve the following goals: achieving an effective short-term ceasefire, working to facilitate emergency humanitarian access, restoring basic services, and setting a timetable for negotiations. expanded to reach a permanent cessation of hostilities.

The Saudi Foreign Ministry added: “The two parties have begun to review the declaration of commitment to protecting civilians and facilitating and respecting humanitarian work in Sudan. The two parties have also begun discussing the security measures that they must take in order to facilitate the arrival of urgent humanitarian aid and the restoration of necessary services in accordance with the Declaration of Principles.”

The Saudi Foreign Ministry indicated that negotiations between the two parties will continue in the coming days, “in the hope of reaching an effective and temporary ceasefire so that humanitarian aid can be delivered to those in need,” she said.

It goes on for days on end

It is expected that those talks, held at a Saudi-American initiative in Jeddah, will continue during the following days, in the hope of reaching an effective ceasefire so that humanitarian aid can be delivered to those in need.

In turn, the international tripartite mechanism, which includes the United Nations, the African Union and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), welcomed this political development in a statement. And she expressed her hope that “the technical talks between the representatives of the two parties in Jeddah will result in understandings that lead to a comprehensive ceasefire,” stressing that this “allows the provision of urgent humanitarian assistance to civilians, whose protection must remain an issue of paramount importance.”

It is noteworthy that these talks came after a series of Arab and African regional initiatives, especially by the eastern countries of the continent through the IGAD organization, but they did not bear fruit.

While the battles that have been going on for 22 days have resulted in 700 dead and 5,000 wounded, according to the data of the Armed Conflict Site and their Facts (ACLED), in addition to the displacement of 335,000 people, and 115,000 taking refuge in neighboring countries, amid warnings by the United Nations of the possibility of suffering 19 million people will suffer from hunger and malnutrition in the coming months.