PORT SUDAN: Sudan’s de facto leader, General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, is ready to work with US President Donald Trump to resolve the conflict splitting his country, the foreign ministry said Tuesday.
The ministry released a statement after the army chief visited Riyadh as a guest of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who recently presented Trump with a proposed Sudan peace plan during a Washington visit.
According to Sudan’s statement, Burhan hailed Trump’s “determination to engage in efforts to achieve peace and end the war in the country, with the participation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
“He affirmed Sudan’s keenness to work with President Trump, his secretary of state, and his envoy for peace in Sudan to achieve this unquestionably noble goal,” it said, referring to Marco Rubio and US envoy Massad Boulos.
International peace efforts led by mediators from the United States, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have been at a standstill since Burhan rejected Boulos’s last suggested framework.
The RSF says it supports the international ceasefire plan, but heavy fighting continues, notably in the southern region of Kordofan.
For the moment, no new date has been announced for talks, neither under the US-led mediators nor a parallel United Nations’ led effort.
Since April 2023, Sudan has been gripped by a war pitting the army, which controls the north and east of the country, against the RSF, dominant in the west and certain areas of the south.
The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, uprooted millions and triggered what the UN calls “the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.”
Sudan general ready to talk to Trump for peace
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Sudan general ready to talk to Trump for peace
- General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, is ready to work with US President Donald Trump to resolve the conflict splitting his country, the foreign ministry said Tuesday
Syrian Democratic Forces withdraws from east of Aleppo
RIYADH: Syrian Democratic Forces have withdrawn from positions east of Aleppo, according to SDF head Mazloum Abdi.
He announced Friday that SDF will withdraw from east of Aleppo at 7 a.m. local time on Saturday and redeploy them to areas east of the Euphrates, citing calls from friendly countries and mediators.
Hours earlier, a US military designation had visited Deir Hafer and met with SDF officials in an apparent attempt to tamp down tensions.
The US has good relations with both sides and has urged calm. A spokesperson for the US military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Shortly before Abdi’s announcement, interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa had announced issuance of a decree strengthening Kurdish rights.
A wave of displacement
Earlier in the day, hundreds of people carrying their belongings arrived in government-held areas in northern Syria ahead of the anticipated offensive by Syrian troops on territory held by Kurdish-led fighters.
Many of the civilians who fled were seen using side roads to reach government-held areas because the main highway was blocked at a checkpoint in the town of Deir Hafer controlled by the SDF.
The Syrian army said late Wednesday that civilians would be able to evacuate through the “humanitarian corridor” from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday and then extended the evacuation period another day, saying the SDF had stopped civilians from leaving.
There had been limited exchanges of fire between the two sides in the area before that.
Men, women and children arrived on the government side of the line in cars and pickup trucks that were packed with bags of clothes, mattresses and other belongings. They were met by local officials who directed them to shelters.
* with input from Reuters, AP
