Warring factions in Sudan meet for negotiations on Saturday in Saudi Arabia

According to officials, the two opposing sides in the Sudanese conflict dispatched envoys to Saudi Arabia on Friday to conduct negotiations for a binding cease-fire.

The negotiations, which will start on Saturday in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, are the product of an international effort to bring the warring parties together.

The United States and Saudi Arabia will assist the discussions in Jeddah, according to Sudanese officials who spoke to The Associated Press.

The opening of humanitarian corridors in Khartoum and Omdurman, as well as the protection of civilian infrastructure, including as hospitals, were also mentioned by Sudanese officials to the AP.

General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo of the opposition paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and General Abdel-Fattah Burhan of the Sudanese military will meet with officials from both sides on Saturday for the first time since combat broke out on April 15.

Numerous people have died in the battle, thousands have been forced to leave, and Sudan is on the verge of disintegrating.

After many flimsy cease-fire agreements failed to put an end to the violence, negotiations were held on Saturday.

Along with the 100,000 who have fled the nation, the UN agency for migration reported this week that at least 334,000 people have been internally displaced as a result of the violence. Over 800,000 people may flee Sudan because to the conflict, the U.N. refugee agency has warned.

The seven nations that border the Sudan are seeing a large influx of people, including Chad, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, Egypt, and Ethiopia.

Due to the absence of security, the majority of humanitarian operations have been halted or drastically reduced. There have been fatalities among the aid personnel. According to the Norwegian Refugee Council, one of their Sudanese volunteers was slain on Sunday in the tumultuous West Darfur city of Geneina.

Aid missions have also been impeded by looting.

This week, the World Food Program reported that around 17,000 tons of food had been taken from its warehouses located all over Sudan.

According to Eddie Row, the WFP national director, “this would translate to about 13 or 14 million U.S. dollars,” he said in a Reuters interview on Thursday. “We are getting reports of new looting almost every day.”

According to WFP, an assessment of the remaining supplies is ongoing. WFP had more than 80,000 tons of supplies in the nation prior to the fighting. The organization still intends to give 384,000 people food aid in the upcoming days.

Looting has long been an issue in Darfur, according to the Darfur coordinator for the U.N. refugee agency, and numerous of their institutions have been broken into since April 15.

In order to help the Sudanese Red Crescent Society provide aid to 200,000 people, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies announced on Thursday that it has launched an emergency appeal.

Reuters, Agence France-Presse, and The Associated Press all contributed information to this article.