Sudan leader, UN envoy discuss efforts to advance peace

By Adel Abdelrheem and Mohammad Sio

KHARTOUM, Sudan/ISTANBUL (AA) – Chairman of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereignty Council Abdel Fattah al-Burhan met with UN Secretary-General’s envoy Ramtane Lamamra in Port Sudan on Sunday to discuss the organization’s efforts to advance peace in the war-torn country.

Burhan welcomed the UN’s work and expressed his government’s readiness to deepen cooperation with the organization and its agencies, the council said in a statement.

The meeting took place as Sudan faces a worsening humanitarian emergency since April 2023, when the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) engaged in a brutal war that regional and international mediations have failed to end. The conflict has killed thousands of people and displaced millions of others.

The Sudanese leader stressed that his government wants to “establish peace across the country in line with the aspirations of the Sudanese people.”

The UN said Thursday that the nearly three-year conflict pushed 21.2 million people toward severe hunger across Sudan.

In September, the Quad – the US, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the UAE – proposed a plan for a three-month humanitarian truce as the first step toward a permanent ceasefire and a nine-month transition leading to an independent civilian government.

RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo unilaterally declared a three-month truce, even though his forces expanded control in Darfur and Kordofan states and carried out attacks on civilians.

Burhan, however, opposed the Quad plan, citing that it “eliminates the army, dissolves security agencies and leaves the rebel militia in the areas it seized.”

The Sudanese government says it remains open to negotiations under a roadmap it submitted to the UN and requires the RSF to withdraw from cities and all civilian sites so displaced families can return home.