DOHA: US President Donald Trump’s Africa envoy Massad Boulos on Saturday called the war in Sudan “the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis,” telling AFP he hoped to see diplomatic progress toward peace.
Since its outbreak in April 2023, the war between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced nearly 12 million.
At the end of October, the paramilitary group seized control El-Fasher, the conclusion of a bitter 18-month siege for the strategic hub in western Sudan’s Darfur region and marked by reports of mass killings and sexual violence.
“The conflict in Sudan, the humanitarian side of this conflict, is the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis today, and the world’s biggest humanitarian catastrophe,” Boulos told AFP in an interview in Doha.
“Especially what happened in El-Fasher in the last two or three weeks. We’ve all seen those videos. We’ve seen those reports. Those atrocities are absolutely unacceptable. This must stop very quickly.”
Washington has urged the warring parties to finalize a truce in Sudan.
The country’s army-aligned government has indicated it will press on with the war following an internal meeting on a US ceasefire proposal.
And while the RSF has said it agrees to the humanitarian truce presented by mediators, the paramilitary group has also continued its offensive.
Boulos said the US and its mediating partners in Sudan were calling on the two sides to agree to a “three-month humanitarian truce.”
“It’s being discussed and it’s being negotiated... we’re urging them to accept this proposal and implement it immediately, without delay,” he said.
In September the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt jointly called for a humanitarian truce followed by a permanent ceasefire and a transition toward civilian rule — but suggested that no warring party should be part of that transition.
Boulos said the US hopes, with its partners, to “achieve some breakthrough in the coming weeks” on the larger plan including on a transition to a civilian-led government.
“The top priority right now remains the humanitarian aspect and the humanitarian truce,” he said.