Return to Sudan talks brings no respite for Darfur

Sudan's rival generals have returned to the negotiating table in Saudi Arabia, but the fighting shows no sign of easing as they wrestle to control the country's second-largest city.

In six months, the war of attrition between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), has killed more than 9,000 people and displaced nearly six million.

Despite the carnage, neither side has managed to seize a decisive advantage.

In Khartoum, the air force has failed to dislodge the RSF, which still controls the capital's streets while the army holds the country's east.

On Thursday, peace talks resumed in the Saudi city of Jeddah, which Riyadh and Washington said Sunday were aimed only at securing a ceasefire deal and the delivery of humanitarian aid.

"The talks will not address broader political issues," statements from both the Saudi foreign ministry and the U.S. State Department added.

To break the stalemate at the exact moment negotiations restarted, the RSF claimed it had captured Nyala, the South Darfur state capital and the largest city in the massive western region of Darfur — the RSF's traditional stronghold.

With much of Sudan's already fragile infrastructure destroyed in the war, Nyala — with an airport, railway and a key highway intersection — could be essential for resupplying forces in the area.

Strategic importance

The paramilitaries have held the Om Dafouq border post with the Central African Republic for the past three months and have reportedly taken control of additional supply routes to Khartoum, 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) to the northeast.

Nyala is also "the largest military centre in...