Sudan's army chief Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan has toned down his criticism of a US plan to end his country's civil war, shifting from rejecting it as the “worst” proposal he had seen to saying it is up to “relevant authorities” to draft a response.
Gen Al Burhan further moderated his position when he called on US President Donald Trump to bring peace to Sudan in an opinion piece published on Wednesday in the Wall Street Journal.
“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,” he wrote.
“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,” wrote Gen Al Burhan.
The first sign of his less hardline tone came in a statement issued on Tuesday night after a meeting of Sudan's Defence and Security Council, which Gen Al Burhan, head of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), chaired.
Sudan, said the statement, thanks Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and President Trump for what it called their interest in Sudan's affairs and their desire to achieve a peace that safeguards the country's unity and the security of its territory.
“The Defence and Security Council has asked the relevant authorities to respond to the road map presented by the American President's adviser on Arab and African Affairs, Massad Boulos.”
However, there was still no commitment to a ceasefire.
On Sunday, Gen Al Burhan dismissed Washington's latest proposal as the “worst” he had received.
He said it sidelined the army and granted legitimacy to the rival Rapid Support Forces. He also vowed to continue the war until the paramilitary group is defeated and thrown out of Sudan.
The military-backed government appeared to throw its weight behind those hard-line comments. A statement issued after a government meeting said it supported them along with “his positions that fulfils the right of the Sudanese people to defend their land and honour”.
Speaking at a news conference in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, Mr Boulos said Gen Al Burhan's criticisms were based on incorrect information.
The US has presented Sudan's warring parties with a proposal for a truce but neither side has formally accepted it, he added. While there were no objections to the content of the plan, the Sudanese army had come back with “preconditions” Mr Boulos described as impossible to achieve.
The RSF has unilaterally declared a cessation of hostilities in response to the US road map. However, the army said on Tuesday it had repelled an RSF attack on a base in the city of Babanoussa, in Kordofan, where the front lines of the 31-month war have shifted after the RSF seized the army's last stronghold in the neighbouring Darfur region.
Mr Trump said last week that Prince Mohammed had urged him during the latter's visit to Washington to be directly involved in the search for peace in Sudan. Tens of thousands of people have been killed in Sudan, more than 12 million displaced and some 30 million – more than half the population – are facing hunger, with pockets of famine surfacing.
Mr Boulos has indicated that the latest US proposals are built on a road map announced in September with Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, but which had foundered. The earlier proposal provided for a 30-day humanitarian truce followed by a longer one in which a civilian-led government oversees the transition to democratic rule.
“We have presented a strong text for a truce, but neither the SAF nor RSF have formally accepted the text we put forward,” Mr Boulos said.
The war in Sudan began in April 2023 after months of tension between Gen Al Burhan and RSF commander Gen Mohamed Dagalo over the future of the army and the paramilitary in a democratic Sudan.
The SAF now controls the capital Khartoum, as well as the central, northern and eastern regions, with a military-backed government that sits in Port Sudan on the Red Sea.
The RSF holds sway over the whole of Darfur and parts of neighbouring Kordofan in the south-west.
Al Shafie Ahmed contributed to this report from Kampala, Uganda.
