The conflict between the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese military led to tens of thousands of civilian deaths and has displaced over 11 million people.

Qatar’s Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani received a call from Sudan’s general Abdel Fattah Al Burhan on Saturday in which the two officials discussed bilateral cooperation relations, as reported by Qatar News Agency (QNA). 

The call to Qatar’s Amir comes after Al-Burhan was the target of a drone attack last week on Wednesday, that killed five people. 

According to the Sudanese army, two drone strikes hit an army base in the town of Gebeit, which hosted a graduation ceremony that the country’s de facto leader attended. 

In an interview with the BBC, Sudanese army spokesman Nabil Abdallah said the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) were behind the attack despite the paramilitary group not claiming responsibility. 

The assassination attempt comes a few days after al-Burhan met with Qatar’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Sultan bin Saad Al Muraikhi, against the backdrop of ceasefire negotiations earlier last month. 

Despite the attack, al-Burhan accepted an invitation to the U.S. sponsored peace talks in Geneva, raising hopes for progress in ending the 15-month war that has led to tens of thousands of civilians losing their lives and more than 11 million people being displaced. 

“The government said [in its reply to the invitation] that it was the party most concerned with saving the lives and dignity of the Sudanese people, and so it will cooperate with any entity that aims to do so,” the Sudanese foreign ministry said in a statement.

The Geneva talks would be the first significant effort in months to get the army and the RSF to sit together. 

Previous talks in Jeddah and Saudi Arabia repeatedly failed to end the fighting, yielding only temporary truces, which were all immediately broken by both sides last year.

Saudi Arabia will co-host the talks, including Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.

According to U.N. experts, U.S. officials and the Sudanese army, the UAE has supported the RSF. 

The war has left half the population of about 50 million facing a hunger crisis and in need of humanitarian aid, the most of any country.