Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

i24 News – The warring parties in Sudan are preparing for a direct talk in Saudi Arabia, but experts warn of a longer protracted conflict, as reported by the AFP. Following repeated attempts, and appeals, the talks started on Saturday in Jeddah.

Experts weighed in on the different aspects at play. The army has an advantage of air supremacy, but the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have an urban advantage, said Andreas Krieg of King’s College London to AFP.

“The battle for Khartoum is quickly developing into a war of attrition where both sides have similar capabilities and capacities,” said Krieg.

RSF’s “more direct chains of command” compared with the army, along with their experience in guerrilla tactics, make the paramilitary group “more agile,” according to the King’s College London academic.

“In an urban environment RSF has a competitive advantage just by the way they are set up,” Krieg concluded, “it is to be expected that this will drag out.”

Foreign ministers of the Arab League countries will meet in Cairo on Sunday, to discuss the war in Sudan. The pan-Arab organization “will study the issue of Sudan,” where two generals have been at war for power, the army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo in charge of RSF.

Meanwhile, the United Nations (UN) warned on Friday that a “frighteningly large number of children” were dying in Sudan, pointing to reports that seven kids were being killed or wounded every hour, and that “the UN was taken by surprise” by the conflict because the world body and others were hopeful that negotiations would be successful.