The US is hardening its position towards Sudan’s warring parties to end the war, using a growing pressure toolkit that includes sanctions, efforts to expand the arms embargo and other measures, US envoy Massad Boulos told The National.
One of those measures was Washington’s decision not to grant Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) chief Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan a visa to attend the UN General Assembly’s high-level debate week in person.
"We don't have Gen Al Burhan in New York. That was a clear move to indicate a lack of appreciation for their position," Mr Boulos, US President Donald Trump's senior adviser for Arab and African affairs, said in an interview on the sidelines of the General Assembly.
Gen Al Burhan had been due to deliver his country’s address at the UN despite facing accusations of war crimes and US sanctions over his forces' use of chemical weapons during the devastating conflict.
Mr Boulos said the US remained in contact with both the SAF and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to find a peaceful solution to the war. But he accused them of "wasting time" in the belief that they could achieve a military victory.
He added that the US supports a civilian track building on the outcomes of the Berlin conference, held in April on the third anniversary of the start of the civil war, which for the first time included a structured forum bringing together Sudanese civilian groups.
"The most important track of the Berlin Principles was is the civilian track, which is led by the Quintet, and within the Quintet this is facilitated by the African Union and the UN and the Arab League," he said.
The Quintet comprises the African Union, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, the Arab League, the EU and the UN.
"We have to give it a chance. We have to support the Quintet. We have to support their effort. The only way to find the solution is through this Sudanese-Sudanese dialogue, Sudanese-owned and Sudanese-led, facilitated by the Quintet, and it has to be inclusive," he added.
"We have to give them a chance to come up with a solution, and then we will obviously have to work with the warring parties to ensure a smooth transition to a civilian-led government."
The challenge, however, is that those with the guns and the ability to shape developments on the ground have rejected the process and are not acting "in good faith", raising the question of how to change their calculus. "The United States has a number of tools that can be used," Mr Boulos said.
'Very important' resolution
Besides sanctions and the latest move to reject Gen Al Burhan's visa request, Washington is pushing to expand the arms embargo as another tool to prevent both sides from receiving foreign military support.
The push came after a UN fact-finding mission found evidence of foreign support for the RSF, as well as the SAF’s use of weapons supplied by foreign countries in attacks that harmed civilians.
The US worked closely with the UK and other UN Security Council members on a draft resolution presented this month. Washington ultimately accepted a one-month technical rollover of the existing Darfur arms embargo to allow more time for negotiations and to give the proposal a chance to move forward.
With about two weeks remaining before the extension expires, France has also expressed support for expanding the arms embargo.
"We strongly feel that this resolution is very, very important. This resolution should pass. This resolution will be a very helpful tool," the US envoy said.
He explained that the existing arms embargo is now 20 years old, making it “totally outdated” and disconnected from the realities of the current conflict. Warfare in Sudan has changed significantly, with drones now playing a major role in a way they did not two decades ago.
"We are determined to work with everybody on the Security Council, and we are engaging with them. We shall know very soon," he added. "However, if it doesn't, there are many other avenues available to the US and our allies, the UK and others, that we should definitely explore."
One of those is "addressing the gold issue", Mr Boulos said. "We've been talking about the gold, which is helping to fuel this conflict. We've been talking about that with our partners, especially the UK and others within the EU."
Closer to Sudan, Libya has been embroiled in a long-running conflict that has left the country divided between rival administrations. In recent weeks, however, there have been signs of a possible rapprochement between the two sides, with Mr Boulos’s diplomatic efforts at the heart of the discussions.
"We're very hopeful that we will see a unification of those institutions. We've been working very hard with a number of our partners, especially Turkey and Egypt, and others – the Europeans, Italy and France, and then other Arab partners as well – and the Libyan people have achieved a lot of progress in recent months," he said.
In August, representatives of Libya's rival political factions signed a UN-backed agreement aimed at resolving long-standing disputes that have blocked national elections in the divided country.
Under the deal, the electoral laws would be amended to allow presidential and parliamentary elections to be held under a single executive authority, with the parties committing to hold the elections within 24 months.
"The idea of the US initiative now, supported by our Turkish partners and Egyptian partners and the others, is to unify those institutions and work on this unification for this transitionary period of two years," Mr Boulos explained.
“We are now feeling and sensing very solid, strong and positive momentum in this direction,” he added, saying the US was working with all relevant parties to prevent potential "spoilers" from derailing the process.
