President Donald Trump’s senior Africa envoy, Massad Boulos, has rejected criticism that the US’s latest proposal to end the Sudan civil war is “biased”.
The US, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have been attempting to mediate between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which have been fighting for more than two years.
On Sunday, Sudan’s army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan said the latest ceasefire proposal was unacceptable and future ones would also be one-sided as long as the UAE was involved in the negotiations.
The Gulf state denies it is offering support to the RSF and on Tuesday Mr Boulos said the bias Burhan spoke of was non-existent.
“He was making reference to something that does not exist, that has never been presented by us. So we have no idea what he is talking about,” the AFP news agency reports Mr Boulos as saying while at a media briefing with UAE presidential adviser Anwar Gargash.
In a video address on Sunday, Burhan said the latest peace plan proposal was “the worst ever” because it sidelines the army and “allows the Rapid Support Forces to remain”.
He accused Trump’s adviser of attempting to impose conditions.
“We are not advocates of war, nor do we reject peace, but no-one can threaten us or impose conditions on us,” he said.
“We fear that Massad Boulos may become an obstacle to the peace sought by all Sudanese.”
The US, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and UAE – collectively known as “the Quad” – proposed a three-month humanitarian truce to the two sides in September. They said the agreement should be followed by a permanent ceasefire and a transition to civilian rule.
The army at the time rejected “foreign interference” – which observers say is a reference to the UAE – and any attempts that equated it with a “racist terrorist militia that relies on foreign mercenaries”.
The Sudanese army has repeatedly alleged that the UAE has been supplying the RSF with weapons and foreign fighters.
UN experts say accusations of such military support are credible, but the Gulf nation has denied all involvement with the RSF.
On Monday, the RSF announced a unilateral three-month ceasefire “in response to international efforts, chiefly that of His Excellency US President Donald Trump”, to end the war.
However, the army said on Tuesday that the RSF had attacked the town of Babanusa, the army’s last stronghold in West Kordofan state.
Earlier in November, Sudan’s capital, Khartoum – which is held by the army – was hit by a drone attack the day after the RSF agreed to an earlier humanitarian ceasefire.
The RSF’s ceasefire declaration “seems to be largely a political ploy”, Sudanese analyst Kholood Khair told the BBC’s Newsday programme.
“The army has been so intransigent about the prospect of a truce and effectively it’s a way of getting a political win in the eyes of the Quad, in particular the United States,” Ms Khair the founder of Confluence Advisory think-tank said.
Last week, Trump said he would intervene to help end the war, which has forced 12 million people from their homes and caused what the UN has called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
There has been no systematic recording of the number of people killed but in May 2024, then US special envoy for Sudan Tom Perriello pointed to estimates of up to 150,000.
In recent weeks, reports of atrocities in the Sudanese city of el-Fasher have sparked international condemnation.
The RSF has been accused of committing mass killings, ethnic cleansing and sexual violence after last month’s seizure of the city, the last major location that remained outside of their control in the vast western region of Darfur.
The paramilitary group, once an ally of the army, has repeatedly denied the abuses, though last month the militia’s leader, Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, declared an investigation into “violations” committed by his soldiers.
Both sides have been accused of war crimes during the conflict that erupted in April 2023.
