Sudan's military-aligned government rejects latest peace plan

Declaring itself as Sudan's only legitimate authority, government rejects equating it with rival paramilitary group

A girl cries as she listens to the story of her family's escape from the army-held city of El Fashir in Darfur. Reuters

Sudan's army-aligned government has effectively rejected a new peace plan proposed by the US and three regional powers, arguing that only the Sudanese people could decide the future of their country and refusing to be left out of postwar transition.

The government has also rejected comparison with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, which the national army has been fighting in a civil war since April 2023.

The US, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt called on Friday for a humanitarian truce in Sudan's civil war, followed by a permanent ceasefire and a transition towards civilian rule – but suggested that neither of the warring parties should be part of that transition.

“The government of Sudan does not accept any regional or international interference that does not respect the sovereignty of the state of Sudan and its legitimate institutions which are supported by the Sudanese people,” said a foreign ministry statement on Saturday.

Sudan's army chief Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan (right) and the commander of the Rapid Support Forces Gen Mohamed Dagalo. AFP

“The government of Sudan emphasises that the realisation of peace in Sudan is the responsibility of the people of Sudan alone, along with existing state institutions.

“The people of Sudan alone decide how they are ruled through national consensus that the 'Government of Hope' is endeavouring to achieve,” added the statement, using the name given to the military-backed administration formed in May and based in Port Sudan, the nation's temporary capital on the Red Sea.

The government's response to the peace plan echoes in large part the conviction of the army chief and the nation's de facto ruler, Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan, who routinely states that he intends to prosecute the war until the RSF surrenders or is vanquished on the battlefield.

The war in Sudan has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced more than 13 million people and left about 25 million, half the population, facing hunger, with pockets of famine emerging across the country.

After more than two years of fighting, the army controls the capital Khartoum along with eastern, northern and central Sudan. The RSF controls the western region of Darfur except for the city of El Fasher which remains held by the army. The paramilitary also controls parts of Kordofan to the south-west.

The RSF pushed the vast Afro-Arab nation farther into effective partition when it set up a parallel government in Darfur last month.

A displaced Sudanese man is reunited with his family after the family fled the city of Al Fasher in Dafur. Reuters

The plan put forward by the four powers, sometimes referred to as the Quad, proposed a three-month humanitarian truce, followed by a permanent ceasefire and a nine-month transition towards a civilian-led government.

“Sudan's future governance is for the Sudanese people to decide through an inclusive and transparent transition process, not controlled by any warring party,” according to the Quad's statement on Friday.

It said the Quad also rejected any role in Sudan's transition for “violent extremist groups” linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, whose 29-year regime led by dictator Omar Al Bashir was toppled by a popular uprising in 2019.

Supporters of Al Bashir's regime have re-emerged shortly after the war between the army and RSF broke out, gaining significant influence after they volunteered in the thousands on the side of the army to compensate for its shortage of infantry.

The volunteers are accused of abusing civilians in areas retaken from the RSF in central Sudan and the capital. The army itself stands accused of killing thousands of civilians in air strikes and artillery and rocket shelling targeting RSF positions in densely populated areas.

The RSF, led by Gen Al Burhan's one-time ally Gen Mohamed Dagalo, is also facing charges of ethnic cleansing in Darfur, sexual assaults, arbitrary detention of civilians and extrajudicial executions in Khartoum and the central region.

On Sunday, the military accused the RSF of using drones to target civilian installations south of the capital, including a power station and an airport in the city of Kenanah. It gave no details on material damage or casualties.

Al Shafie Ahmed reported from Kampala, Uganda.