The US special envoy for Sudan warned Thursday that Sudan’s warring factions lack the political will to resolve the devastating conflict that has ravaged the country since April 2023.
“We do not yet see enough political appetite from the parties to find a real resolution to this conflict,” Tom Perriello explained to the Associated Press. Any solution, he added, must return control to the people.
The fighting between Sudan’s military, led by Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) under Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, has left over 20,000 dead and displaced 14 million people, according to the UN’s latest figures. Accusations of atrocities, including civilian massacres and sexual violence, have mounted, particularly against the RSF, with the UN recently warning of widespread famine and acute hunger affecting at least 26.5 million Sudanese.
Perriello, who met with Burhan in Port Sudan earlier this week, condemned international arms supplies fueling the war, including alleged support from the UAE and Russia’s Wagner Group for the RSF and the Sudanese army, respectively.
“We have way too many countries pouring weapons into Sudan who should be sending food and medicine,” Perriello warned. “We have way too many countries deciding to get involved, not in the interests of the Sudanese people, but to take advantage of the fragility of the state.”
Perriello described the scale of suffering as staggering. “The numbers are astronomical,” he said, pointing to reported atrocities in Gezira state last month. Perriello vowed continued US efforts to halt arms flows and bolster relief efforts amid what he called one of the world’s most overlooked humanitarian crises.