Washington (AFP) – US President Donald Trump vowed Wednesday to end Sudan’s grinding civil war at the request of Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, condemning “tremendous atrocities” in a conflict he has previously overlooked. Trump admitted that the devastating war between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) was “not on my charts” before Prince Mohammed bin Salman pushed him to get involved.
But Trump said he would now work to “stabilize” the conflict with regional powers, notably including the United Arab Emirates, which denies accusations of backing the RSF with weapons and mercenaries. The United Nations has repeatedly called for greater global attention to the war, which has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced nearly 12 million since its outbreak in April 2023.
“His majesty would like me to do something very powerful having to do with Sudan,” Trump said at a business forum with the Saudi royal a day after Prince Mohammed received a lavish reception at the White House. “It was not on my charts to be involved in, I thought it was just something that was crazy and out of control. But I just see how important that is to you, and to a lot of your friends in the room, Sudan. And we’re going to start working on Sudan.”
Sudan’s Saudi-backed sovereign council, which is headed by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, said it was ready to cooperate with the United States and Riyadh. In a statement, the council thanked Washington and Riyadh for “their continued efforts to stop Sudanese bloodshed.” International attention on the conflict has increased since the RSF recently seized the key Darfur city of El-Fasher after a relentless siege that has sparked warnings of crimes against humanity and genocide.
– ‘Immediate halt’ – Trump had barely commented on the Sudan war in the nine months since he returned to office, focusing instead on the wars in Gaza and Ukraine. But on Wednesday, the 79-year-old Republican said he would use the “influence of the presidency to bring an immediate halt” to the war. “Tremendous atrocities are taking place in Sudan. It has become the most violent place on Earth,” Trump said on his Truth Social network a few hours after his initial comments. “We will work with Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and other Middle Eastern partners to get these atrocities to end, while at the same time stabilizing Sudan.”
While the conflict has been off Trump’s radar, Washington has stepped up efforts in recent months to resolve it. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the UAE’s foreign minister on Friday to urge Abu Dhabi to back a Sudan ceasefire. Trump’s own Africa envoy Massad Boulos on Saturday told AFP that the war in Sudan was the “world’s biggest humanitarian crisis.” Trump repeatedly claims to have solved eight conflicts since returning to office in January as he seeks a Nobel Peace Prize. His promise to start working on the Sudan conflict reflects his close ties with the de facto Saudi leader, whom he hosted at the White House for a lavish visit on Tuesday. Their closeness was also underscored by his comments in the Oval Office on Tuesday, during which Trump defended the prince over the 2018 murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, saying the prince “knew nothing.”
© 2024 AFP
