The head of the Sudanese armed forces and Sudan’s de facto leader, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, at war with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitaries for more than a year, said on Saturday that he would not participate in the peace talks under any circumstances. talks in Geneva and promised to continue the armed conflict “for a hundred years”.

“We will not go to Geneva (…) we will continue fighting for 100 years,” General Burhan told reporters in Port Sudan, as the country remains mired in more than 16 months of war.

The US has been holding talks in Switzerland since August 14 to expand access to humanitarian aid and declare a ceasefire.

But only the DTY directly participates in the negotiations, the Sudanese armed forces expressed objections to the format of the talks. However, the American special envoy for Sudan, Tom Periello, assured that the mediators are in constant contact with the army by phone.

The talks, co-hosted by Saudi Arabia and Switzerland, include the African Union, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and the UN as observers.

The current round ended yesterday Friday, without a ceasefire agreement, but with the warring parties pledging to guarantee safe and unhindered access to humanitarian organizations and international organizations along two key routes.

The DTY is commanded by General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, the former second-in-command of Sudan’s military regime, who was embroiled in a power struggle with General Burhan.

The two camps have been accused of a host of war crimes, notably the indiscriminate bombing of populated areas, in a war that has left tens of thousands dead and made more than ten million people internally displaced and refugees, according to the United Nations.