Sudan’s military chief discusses path to peace with US envoy
Sudan’s military chief and the United States senior advisor for Africa met in Switzerland to discuss a path to peace to end Sudan’s war, according to AFP via The New Arab on August 13th.
According to a senior government source, the leader of the Sudanese Armed Forces, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, met with US envoy Massad Boulos on August 11th for three hours. They “discussed a proposal submitted by the United States for a comprehensive ceasefire in Sudan and the delivery of humanitarian aid.”
Sudan has been embroiled in a vastly destructive civil war since April 2023, after a power struggle between the military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces turned violent. The conflict has caused the world’s largest displacement crisis and plunged much of the nation into famine.
The US and Saudi Arabia have attempted to mediate ceasefire negotiations and establish a path to peace on numerous occasions since the start of the war, to no avail.
In late July, a diplomatic meeting between Saudi Arabia, the US, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates to plan ceasefire negotiations was cancelled due to “an unresolved disagreement” between the latter two nations. The dispute emerged over their conflicting visions of the military’s role in a transitional peace process.
The meeting between al-Burhan and Boulos in Switzerland is the highest-level diplomatic engagement in months, as Washington appears to be increasing its efforts to end Sudan’s war.
The government source continued by saying that “Burhan told Boulos that the RSF has no political role in Sudan.” This comment likely refers to the RSF’s recent establishment of a parallel government in Sudan to rival the internationally recognised military-backed administration.
The Sudanese military labelled it as a “phantom government,” which would only aggravate already severe national suffering in a desperate attempt to gain a strategic upper hand in the war and international legitimacy. The African Union promptly refused to recognise the “so-called parallel government”.
Burhan, Sudan’s de facto leader, has repeatedly said that the military would continue to fight until the RSF is either defeated or surrenders, according to The National on August 13th. This makes the prospect of a peace settlement being reached soon seem unlikely.
The situation on the ground seems to support this perspective as the RSF is showing no signs of war weariness or fatigue. On the contrary, it has vastly intensified assaults in the regions of North Kordofan and Darfur in recent months.
Most notably, the RSF has concentrated military efforts on the North Darfur state capital of El-Fasher, the last remaining military stronghold in western Sudan. The city has been under siege since May 2024, which has led to the recent death of 63 civilians due to malnutrition.
Moreover, in a renewed effort to draw out the military, the RSF killed 40 people in a displacement camp on the outskirts of the city on August 11th. The Sudanese military then claimed that it had “repelled a large-scale attack from several axes by the terrorist militia and inflicted heavy losses on the enemy in lives and equipment, as more than 16 combat vehicles were destroyed and burned and 34 vehicles, including armoured cars, were captured”.
The ever-intensifying confrontations between the warring factions, compounded by the RSF’s separatist vision, make plotting a path to peace in Sudan seem like an insurmountable task.
AFP, The New Arab, Maghrebi.org, The National
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