US Secretary State Demand Ceasefire in Sudan Warring Generals
In separate discussions with the two Sudanese generals whose power struggle has claimed over 200 lives recently, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday appealed for a truce.
According to a statement from the US State Department’s Vedant Patel, Mr. Blinken spoke with Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, the head of a Sudanese paramilitary group, and Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the country’s de facto president and head of the military.
The battle that has erupted recently is the result of a protracted power struggle between Mr. al-Burhan’s army and Mr. Daglo’s rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Volker Perthes, the UN mediator, said that 1,800 people had been hurt and at least 185 people had died as a result of the conflict.
Mr. Blinken “underlined the urgency of reaching a ceasefire to permit the provision of humanitarian assistance to those impacted by the battle, the reunification of Sudanese families, and allow the international community in Khartoum to ensure its presence is secure,” according to a statement from the State Department. Mr. Blinken spoke with the rivals separately.
The G7 summit is presently taking place in Japan, and Mr. Blinken “stressed the responsibility of the two generals to ensure the safety and wellbeing of civilians, diplomatic personnel, and humanitarian workers,” according to the statement.
Blinken and Mr. Daglo, according to Mr. Daglo, had a “vital conversation” in which they “discussed pressing issues in Sudan and our shared dedication to freedom, justice, and democracy for our people.”
There has been a lot of fighting since the weekend, raising fears that a civil war may break out.
On Monday, Mr. Daglo, who has already been charged with significant human rights violations, pleaded for international assistance while calling Mr. al-Burhan “a radical Islamist who is bombing civilians from the air.”
Since Saturday afternoon, when he claimed that the RSF had attacked and emphasized that he had the situation under control, Mr. Al-Burhan has not made any public statements.
After widespread social unrest in 2019, Messrs. Daglo and al-Burhan deposed longtime ruler Omar al-Bashir.
In 2021, the two retook control from a civilian administration that had been put in place in the meantime.
