Sudan's Failed Peace Talks in 2025

Since May 2023, the United States and Saudi Arabia have hosted peace talks in Jeddah. They failed repeatedly because both generals were looking for tactical pauses, not a real settlement. Burhan and Hemedti both used the process to buy time, regroup forces, and test the other side's weakness.

Regional actors have been pushing their own agendas rather than a common peace plan. The UAE has been accused of supplying the RSF through Chad. Egypt and Saudi Arabia lean toward the army but also fear RSF control over key strategic areas. Ethiopia remains involved because of wider Nile and security politics. Those rival interests keep the conflict alive.

The two commanders were once partners and now treat each other as enemies to be eliminated. Burhan sees himself as the legitimate head of state, while Hemedti presents himself as the defender of a neglected population. A serious peace agreement would require both men to share power and accept limits, which neither is willing to do.

The civilian groups that helped remove Bashir in 2019 have been pushed to the margins of the war. Some support the army as the lesser evil; others insist on neutrality and a civilian transition. Either way, their political vision matters far less on the battlefield than the weapons flowing into the country.

By October 2025 the front line had hardened: the RSF dominated much of Darfur and parts of Khartoum, while the army held the east and north. New talks in Geneva failed as well. International attention remains thin, and Sudan risks turning into a long-term failed state rather than a war with a near-term settlement.