"The decision of participating in Geneva negotiations is ultimately up to the leadership's assessments,” Mohamed Bashir Abu-Namu, head of the Sudanese government delegation in Jeddah, said on his Facebook account.

“There are certainly many details that led us to end the consultative dialogue without an agreement," Abu-Namu added.

According to Al-Arabiya, the two sides did not agree on some issues, as the Sudanese delegation rejected the Intergovernmental Authority on Development's (IGAD) participation in the coming Geneva talks.

In addition, a source told Al-Arabiya that the US delegation had proposed that Sudan's negotiating team be led by a senior army official or officer, a proposal rejected by the government delegation.

Other sources explained that technical consultations between the international parties would begin in the 14 August Geneva talks even if the army delegation did not participate.

Meanwhile, the Sudanese army said on Saturday it repelled a major attack by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, Sudan Tribune reported.

“Our forces crushed a major attack by the RSF militia on El Fasher today,” Brigadier General Nabil Abdallah, an army spokesperson, said in a statement.

The Rapid Support Forces had intensified its attacks on El Fasher in recent days, causing civilian casualties and prompting many residents to flee.

The commander of the joint force’s operations, General Abboud Adam Khater, told Sudan Tribune that the attack was the most violent the city had seen since the conflict began.

He said the RSF had mobilized all its forces in an attempt to take the city but was met with heavy resistance.

Geneva negotiations 

A Sudanese delegation arrived Friday in Saudi Arabia for talks with US mediators on conditions for the government's participation in ceasefire negotiations in Geneva next week, Sudanese authorities and a diplomat said.

The United States last month invited Sudan's warring sides to hold ceasefire talks, more than a year after fighting broke out between the regular army and the paramilitary RSF.

"The Sudanese government has decided to send a delegation led by the minister of minerals, Mohammed Bashir Abu Namo, to discuss with the United States its invitation for negotiations set to take place on August 14," said a government statement.

The delegation arrived in the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah to "discuss the government conditions with American officials to take part in Geneva talks", a Sudanese diplomat based in the kingdom told AFP.

The Geneva talks will be co-hosted by Saudi Arabia and include the African Union, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Nations as observers, Washington has said.

Previous negotiations in Jeddah have failed to put an end to the devastating fighting.

The war since April 2023 between Burhan's forces and those loyal to paramilitary commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo has killed tens of thousands of people, uprooted millions, and triggered a dire humanitarian crisis and warnings of famine.

Last week, a UN-backed assessment said that the war raging has pushed the Zamzam camp near Darfur's besieged city of El-Fasher into famine.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) review, which UN agencies use, found that "famine is ongoing in July 2024 in Zamzam camp".

Zamzam, a displacement camp in North Darfur state which hosted some 300,000 people "has swollen to half a million people in just a few weeks" due to the fighting in nearby El-Fasher, said Mohammed Qazilbash of Plan International.