US, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Egypt call for Sudan truce

The United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt issued a joint statement on Friday calling for a three-month humanitarian truce in Sudan, followed by a permanent ceasefire.

Foreign ministers of the four countries put forth a plan to end the deadly conflict in the northeast African nation, which called for a nine-month transitional process to establish civilian rule.

The transition should "meet the aspirations of the Sudanese people towards smoothly establishing an independent, civilian-led government with broad-based legitimacy and accountability," the statement from the four nations said.

The so-called "Quad" countries are known to have the most sway with the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which began fighting each other in 2023.

The conflict has resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of people, displaced millions and triggered what the United Nations describes as one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

A meeting of the foreign ministers of the four countries was first slated for July in Washington but was postponed due to disagreements between Egypt and the UAE.

"Sudan's future governance is for the Sudanese people to decide through an inclusive and transparent transition process, not controlled by any warring party," the countries said on Friday..

There was no immediate response to the statement from the Sudanese army and the RSF.

Egypt is an important ally of Sudan's regular army and has maintained a call for the protection of state institutions.

The UAE has been accused by the army of supporting the RSF, a charge which the Gulf state denies but has been deemed credible by US lawmakers and experts.

The joint statement backed the unity of Sudan, but it was unclear whether the warring parties were willing to engage.

The army currently controls Sudan's east, north and centre, while the RSF holds most of the Darfur region, where it has declared a parallel government, fueling fears of a de facto partition.

In June, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called for a weeklong ceasefire in El Fasher, North Darfur's besieged capital.

The army agreed to the pause, but the RSF rejected it.

"There is no viable military solution to the conflict, and the status quo creates unacceptable suffering and risks to peace and security," Friday's international statement said.

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The statement also rejected any role for "violent extremist groups part of or evidently linked to the Muslim Brotherhood" in the transition process, as it referred to the Islamists who controlled Sudan for three decades until 2019 and have seen a resurgence during the war in support of the army.

On Friday, the US imposed sanctions on Sudanese Finance Minister Jibril Ibrahim, an Islamist and the Baraa Ibn-Malik Brigade, an Islamist militia that has fought alongside the army.

"These sanctions aim to limit Islamist influence within Sudan and curtail Iran's regional activities, which have contributed to regional destabilisation, conflict, and civilian suffering," the US Treasury Department said.