Sudan's former prime minister Abdalla Hamdok has welcomed what he described as America’s “more structured and serious” engagement to end his country’s devastating civil war.
Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan, the Sudanese army chief and de facto leader, met US President Donald Trump's senior adviser for Africa Massad Boulos in Switzerland last month to discuss an American plan to end Sudan's civil war, according to sources.
The two reportedly discussed a US proposal for a nationwide ceasefire and the delivery of humanitarian assistance to 25 million people facing hunger.
“We are quite pleased with the recent, rather more structured and more serious engagement by the United States,” Mr Hamdok told The National at the Hili Forum in Abu Dhabi on Monday.
“America has a very important role to play in this region. They have leverage. They had a serious role to play when the war started, but it was very much low profile. This is definitely a step in the right direction.
“What is needed now is for it to be complemented by including the civilian voice as an integral part of the process – and I would like to believe that will happen.”
Washington was scheduled to host the foreign ministers of several Arab countries in July for talks aimed at advancing negotiations between the two rival Sudanese generals, but the meeting was later postponed.
'Only a political solution'
The civil war in Sudan that has effectively split the country into two administrations has been raging since April 2023, when tensions between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), commanded by Gen Mohamed Dagalo, erupted into open conflict. What began as a power struggle between the two former allies – who jointly staged a coup in 2021 – has spiralled into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
Mr Hamdok was installed as prime minister in a civilian-led transitional government in August 2019, months after the military removed long-time dictator Omar Al Bashir amid widespread protests against his rule. However, his government was overthrown in the 2021 military coup.
He now leads the Civil Democratic Alliance for Revolutionary Forces, which was formed this year and comprises political parties, professional groups and unions and civil activist groups.
The former PM insists that military force cannot end the conflict.
“The only thing that is there for us is a negotiated settlement,” he said.
“It has two aspects: first, we need to go through a process of stopping the war and then ending the war.
"These are two distinctly different issues. Stopping the war is a technical process, meaning that you go through a ceasefire, which is monitored regionally and internationally. And then stopping the war by necessity through dialogue, a Sudanese-Sudanese dialogue.”
The warring sides have repeatedly refused to engage in direct negotiations for a ceasefire. This rigidness has significantly hindered international mediation efforts.
“All this fighting today is just a senseless war. Every day it continues, it destroys the country further. And there is no way that one of them [the rival generals] will have victory,” said Mr Hamdok.
In recent months, the country has found itself effectively divided between two parallel governments after the RSF established an administration in areas under its control. Gen Al Burhan moved last month to place allied fighters under the military's control.
Humanitarian catastrophe
Tens of thousands have been killed in the continuing war. According to the former prime minister, the humanitarian crisis in Sudan has reached levels greater than Gaza and Ukraine combined.
“Human suffering is beyond imagination and magnitude. Over 14 million are internally displaced, more than four million are refugees in the region,” he added.
Last month, the UN children’s agency, Unicef, said that thousands of children in the besieged Sudanese city of El Fasher were suffering from acute malnutrition, as it called for life-saving aid to be allowed entry.
El Fasher, an SAF-held city, has been besieged by the RSF since May 2024. Tens of thousands of residents have fled shelling.
A group of peace brokers, which includes the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the US and Switzerland, have also warned that the country is in the grip of a worsening humanitarian crisis with ever more people facing “severe malnutrition and famine”.
“What is required is access, whether it is cross border from the neighbours or cross lines so that the civilians could be reached everything they need, food, shelter, medicine, all that,” said Mr Hamdok.
“This can only happen if pressure is put on the two belligerents. They need to understand and understand squarely that there are consequences for the atrocities and for using humanitarian assistance, food and others as a weapon of war.”
Mr Hamdok also pointed to the influence of regional powers in pressing for an end to the war.
The UAE has repeatedly called for an immediate ceasefire and the resumption of a political process that restores civilian rule.
“Our future is in civilian rule that would create a stable, unified country,” said the former prime minister. “So I do not think there is any future for military rule in Sudan.”
