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The United States has presented Sudan’s warring parties with a proposal for a truce but neither side has formally accepted it, U.S. envoy Massad Boulos said Tuesday, as the army accused its rivals of staging an attack despite declaring a ceasefire.
Boulos said that while there were no objections to the content of the U.S.-proposed plan, the Sudanese army had come back with “preconditions” he described as impossible to achieve.
The army’s rival in the war, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), unilaterally declared a cessation of hostilities on Monday in line with U.S. wishes. But on Tuesday, the army said it had repelled an attack on a base in Babanusa, in West Kordofan state, the newest frontline in the war.
U.S. President Donald Trump said last week he would intervene to stop the conflict between the army and the RSF, which erupted in April 2023 out of a power struggle and has triggered famine, ethnic killings and mass displacement.
Previous efforts led by the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates have failed to bear fruit. The group submitted a proposal to the two forces in September.
“We have presented a strong text for a truce, but neither the SAF [army] nor RSF have formally accepted the text we put forward,” Boulos, Trump’s adviser for African and Arab affairs, said on Tuesday, indicating that the latest plan built on the September proposal.
Nearly three weeks after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces captured El Fasher a news blackout remains in place. The UN estimates 90,000 people have fled and many more are believed still trapped as aid groups struggle to get access and the United Nations appeals for funds fall short of targets they say they need for humanitarian relief.
On Sunday, Sudanese army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan described the U.S.’s latest proposal as the worst he’d seen, saying it sidelined the army and granted the RSF legitimacy.
Boulos, speaking at a news conference with Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to the U.A.E. president, said Burhan’s criticisms were based on incorrect information.
The Sudanese army has previously objected to the inclusion of the U.A.E. in peace talks, and has also said it would only accept a truce after the RSF withdraws forces from civilian areas.
The U.A.E. has been widely accused of arming the RSF, an accusation it has denied. Gargash on Tuesday said “disingenuous claims and misinformation campaigns” would not deter his country from seeking peace.
Gargash also said Sudan’s future could not be dictated by the Muslim Brotherhood or related groups — a reference to Islamist influence in the Sudanese army, which Burhan has denied.
Boulos said if the U.S. moves forward with labelling the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group, affiliates in the region could be examined.
On Monday, under international pressure after brutal attacks on civilians by his forces late last month, RSF chief Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo said his forces would enter a unilateral ceasefire immediately. It was unclear on Tuesday whether that ceasefire held.
The war in Sudan has been raging for two and a half years, but in the last two weeks, a turning point has been reached. CBC News speaks to Nicholas Coghlan, a former Canadian diplomat in Sudan, for more on this story.
Boulos said he welcomed the RSF’s declaration and hoped it would be upheld.
“External financial and military support to the warring parties must stop,” he added, without referencing specific countries.
Khalid Aleisir, a spokesperson for Sudan’s government, led by the army, said the RSF’s announcement on Monday was a “clear political manoeuvre” meant to distract from its fighters’ atrocities.
The RSF has said that reports of atrocities have been exaggerated and anyone found to have committed abuses would be held accountable.
