Mediators trying to end the conflict in Sudan are ending the year with a bitter taste in their mouths, learning the harsh realities of warring factions who want power by any means necessary.
It is a harsh lesson learned in the past eight months since the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) launched a war against Sudan Armed Forces (Saf) in Khartoum.
As of this week, the UN estimates that at least 9,000 people have died in the war, more than 5.6 million have been internally displaced and another million have become refugees in neighbouring Chad, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Egypt.
