U.S. envoy discusses peace proposal with Sudan army chief: govt sources

Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan Source: AFP/Getty Images

Sudan’s army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the United States’ senior advisor for Africa Massad Boulos met in Switzerland to discuss a U.S. peace plan for the war-torn and hunger-stricken country, two Sudanese government sources told AFP on Tuesday.

The pair had a three-hour meeting on Monday “where they discussed a proposal submitted by the United States for a comprehensive ceasefire in Sudan and the delivery of humanitarian aid,” a senior government source said.

Since April 2023, the war between Sudan’s regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has killed tens of thousands and created the world’s largest hunger and displacement crises.

Previous mediation efforts by the U.S. and Saudi Arabia over the past two years have failed to secure a ceasefire, as rival forces battled for territory in Africa’s third largest nation.

The meeting is the highest-level engagement in months, as Washington appears to be amping up its peace efforts on Sudan.

An attempt by the US to rally the external powers seen as most influential over the warring parties -- Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the UAE -- fell apart over the latter two’s disagreement over the role of the army in a transitional peace process.

On Monday, “Burhan told Boulos that the RSF has no political role in Sudan,” the government source told AFP, requesting anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

They added Burhan, Sudan’s de facto leader, had received the US’s plan before traveling to Switzerland, and that he was back in his wartime capital Port Sudan by Tuesday morning.

On the ground, the fighting shows no signs of abating. While Burhan’s forces successfully recaptured the capital Khartoum in March, the paramilitary has intensified its attacks on El-Fasher, a state capital in the western Darfur region that is now the war’s most important frontline.

In its efforts to consolidate its hold on the entire Darfur region, the RSF on Monday launched a new attack on the North Darfur state capital, killing 40 people in a displacement camp, first responders reported.

As a result of the siege, 63 people, mostly women and children, died of malnutrition in the city within a week this month.

Across Sudan, nearly 25 million people are suffering from dire food insecurity.

The war has fragmented the country, with the army holding the north, east and centre, while the RSF controls nearly all of Darfur and with its allies parts of the south.