The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced yesterday Monday that it facilitated the release of 64 members of the Sudanese army who were being held by their opponents, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitaries.

“The released people were transferred from Khartoum to Wad Madani, 200 kilometers south of the capital, at the request of the (warring) parties,” the ICRC said in a press release.

Since the outbreak of war in Sudan in mid-April, the humanitarian aid and care organization has regularly facilitated prisoner releases or exchanges, mediating between the armed forces and DTY.

The armed conflict between the regular army, led by General Ahmed Fattah al-Burhan, and the DTY paramilitaries, led by General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, has claimed the lives of at least 9,000 people, according to the UN – this tally is no doubt greatly underestimated – , has uprooted over 5.6 million people and destroyed most of the infrastructure in Sudan.

Representatives of the two generals are in Saudi Arabia, where negotiations have resumed under the auspices of the US and the Sunni Gulf monarchy.

The talks aim to “facilitate the distribution of humanitarian aid, implement ceasefires (…) and make progress towards a permanent end to hostilities,” according to the Foreign Ministry in Riyadh.

Mediation efforts so far have yielded nothing but cease-fire agreements that have been systematically violated by the parties — lasting only a few hours.

Non-governmental organizations accuse both sides in this war of torture and other forms of ill-treatment of prisoners and detainees.

The ICRC says it has facilitated the release of a total of “292 prisoners” since the start of the armed conflict.