PORT SUDAN: Sudan’s army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, at war with a rival paramilitary group since April 2023, called on US President Donald Trump on Wednesday to bring peace.
“The Sudanese people now look to Washington to take the next step: to build on the US president’s honesty and work with us — and those in the region who genuinely seek peace — to end this war,” Sudan’s de facto leader wrote in an op-ed published in The Wall Street Journal.
Attempts to broker peace between Burhan and his one-time deputy, Rapid Support Forces commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, have repeatedly failed over the course of the war that has killed tens of thousands, displaced 12 million and created the world’s largest hunger and displacement crises.
Trump took an interest in the war for the first time last week, vowing he would end it after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman urged him to get involved.
“The consensus among Sudanese is that Mr.Trump is a leader who speaks directly and acts decisively. Many believe he has the resolve to confront the foreign actors prolonging our suffering,” Burhan wrote.
The US and the UAE, along with Saudi Arabia and Egypt are currently attempting to broker a truce.
In his 1,200-word piece published Wednesday, Burhan said the choice was “between a sovereign state trying to protect its citizens and a genocidal militia bent on destroying communities.”
Burhan’s government is internationally recognized, and in January the US determined the RSF had committed genocide in the western region of Darfur.
But his own forces have also been accused of atrocities since the war began, including targeting civilians and indiscriminately shelling residential areas.
The career soldier, who in 2021 collaborated with Dagalo to oust civilians from a transitional government, wrote on Wednesday: “I long recognized that the RSF was a powder keg.”
RSF commander Dagalo, whose fighters were originally contracted by Khartoum to fight its wars on Sudan’s periphery, became Burhan’s right-hand man after Sudan’s 2018-2019 uprising.
A long-simmering power struggle between them erupted into all-out war on April 15, 2023.
Sudan army chief calls on Trump to end country’s war
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Sudan army chief calls on Trump to end country’s war
- Sudan’s army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, at war with a rival paramilitary group since April 2023, called on US President Donald Trump on Wednesday to bring peace
Syria nears anniversary of Assad’s fall amid renewed ‘deeply troubling’ abuses, UN warns
- Early steps by interim leadership ‘encouraging but only the beginning’ of long process of accountability, human rights chief says
- Concern that rising hate speech, both online and on the streets, has intensified violence against Alawite, Druze, Christian, Bedouin communities
NEW YORK: Syria is days away from marking the first anniversary of the fall of President Bashar Assad’s regime, but the country’s interim authorities face mounting criticism over continuing abuses and a fragile security environment, the UN human rights chief said.
In a statement on Friday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said early steps by the interim leadership, including the creation of national commissions for transitional justice and missing persons, and investigative bodies examining violence in coastal areas and in Suweida, were “encouraging but only the beginning” of a long process of accountability.
Trials for suspects linked to last year’s coastal violence have begun, and a draft law on transitional justice has been announced. But Turk said the human rights situation remains deeply troubling.
According to the UN, hundreds of people have been killed over the past year in summary executions, arbitrary killings, and abductions. Victims include members of minority communities and individuals accused of ties to the former government. Deaths were attributed to gunfire, stabbings, blunt-force attacks, shelling, hand grenades and explosive remnants of war.
The UN said perpetrators include security forces under the interim authorities, armed groups aligned with them, remnants of the former government’s forces, local militias, and unidentified armed actors.
Investigators also documented reports of sexual violence, arbitrary detention, looting, destruction of homes, forced evictions, and property confiscations, along with restrictions on free expression and peaceful assembly.
Turk warned that rising hate speech, both online and on the streets, had intensified violence against Alawite, Druze, Christian, and Bedouin communities.
The past year has also seen repeated Israeli military operations inside Syrian territory, including incursions and the occupation of additional areas. The UN said it had received reports of civilian casualties in a recent Israeli strike near Damascus, along with arrests and home searches carried out during military actions.
Turk expressed concern that former armed groups have been integrated into new security forces without adequate human rights checks, raising the risk of repeat violations.
“Proper vetting and comprehensive security sector reform are essential to prevent individuals responsible for serious abuses from entering the security forces,” he said.
He urged Syria’s interim authorities to ensure independent and transparent investigations into all violations, past and present, and to hold those responsible to account.
“Accountability, justice, peace, and the security of all Syrians are absolute prerequisites for a successful transition,” Turk said, adding that victims must have access to remedies and reparation.
The UN Human Rights Office said its Damascus program is supporting efforts to advance inclusive transitional justice and strengthen the rule of law as Syria navigates a post-Assad transition.
