US calls on Sudan’s warring parties to accept ceasefire plan unaltered

The United States envoy has demanded that the parties in conflict with Sudan accept his truce proposal without requiring any conditions.

A “comprehensive” ceasefire plan was presented to the warring generals in Sudan by Massad Boulos, the president’s adviser on African and Arab affairs, at a press conference in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, but neither side backed it.

According to the commanders of the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), “We would like them to accept the specific text that was presented to them.”

The comments were made a day after Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, announced that his paramilitary group would adhere to a three-month “humanitarian truce” in an apparent unilateral manner.

The Sudanese army commander, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, had criticized the White House envoy’s proposal as “the worst” proposal made since the start of the bloody civil war that erupted in April 2023 the day before.

The plan, suggested by “the Quad,” a group of mediators that also includes Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, would undermine the army while maintaining the RSF, asserted the effective leader of the military government.

Al-Burhan’s rejection was consistent with UAE assertions that the country has repeatedly refuted international claims that it supports the RSF financially and militarily. The UAE criticized a Sudanese decision in March to bring a lawsuit against it in the International Court of Justice, calling the allegations a “cynical publicity stunt.”

The UAE’s president’s diplomatic adviser, Anwar Gargash, who sat with Boulos on Tuesday, expressed his country’s support for efforts to end the war and condemn “atrocities” committed by both the army and the RSF.

Boulos said he was aware of the RSF’s announcement to declare a truce and that he hoped it would hold up.

However, it’s unclear whether the RSF or the army might be willing to step down after weeks of bloody fighting and accusations of atrocities in the Darfur and Kordofan regions.

El-Fasher, the army’s final stronghold in Western Darfur, was taken over by the RSF last month, giving it more ground in the west of Sudan.

first offense

International organizations, satellite images, and witnesses have long documented the rape and mass murders that have occurred in the El-Fasher region.

Amnesty International was the latest organization to raise the alarm, blaming RSF fighters for a report released earlier on Tuesday.

The UAE is accused of supporting the paramilitary force, but the NGO’s secretary-general reacted with scorn.

Agnes Callamard attributed the support for the RSF to the United Arab Emirates, who helped to facilitate these atrocities. The RSF’s continued support from the UAE is a contributing factor to Sudan’s unending cycle of violence against civilians.

More than 150 people were abducted after the RSF and South Sudan’s SPLM attacked the al-Zallataya Mine in South Kordofan, according to a report released by the Sudan Doctors Network NGO later on Tuesday.

The organization criticized the “heinous crime” and claimed that it was the first “blatant violation” of the RSF’s alleged humanitarian truce.