Sudan’s army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, embroiled in conflict with a rival paramilitary group since April 2023, called on U.S. President Donald Trump Wednesday to help broker peace.
"The Sudanese people now look to Washington to take the next step: to build on the U.S. president's honesty and work with us – and those in the region who genuinely seek peace – to end this war," Sudan's de facto leader wrote in an op-ed published in The Wall Street Journal.
Attempts to broker peace between Burhan and his one-time deputy, Rapid Support Forces commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, have repeatedly failed over the course of the war that has killed tens of thousands, displaced 12 million and created the world's largest hunger and displacement crises.
Trump took an interest in the war for the first time last week, vowing he would end it after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman urged him to get involved.
"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," Burhan wrote.
The army chief stopped short of naming the United Arab Emirates, which he has repeatedly accused of backing the RSF – an accusation the UAE has consistently denied.
The U.S. and the UAE, along with Saudi Arabia and Egypt are currently attempting to broker a truce.
Both the army and the RSF have previously stonewalled negotiations brokered by the U.S. and Saudi Arabia.
In his 1,200-word piece published Wednesday, Burhan said the choice was "between a sovereign state trying to protect its citizens and a genocidal militia bent on destroying communities."
Burhan's government is internationally recognized, and in January the U.S. determined the RSF had committed genocide in the western region of Darfur.
But his own forces have also been accused of atrocities since the war began, including targeting civilians and indiscriminately shelling residential areas.
The career soldier, who in 2021 collaborated with Daglo to oust civilians from a transitional government, wrote on Wednesday: "I long recognised that the RSF was a powder keg."
RSF commander Daglo, whose fighters were originally contracted by Khartoum to fight its wars on Sudan's periphery, became Burhan's right-hand man after Sudan's 2018-2019 uprising.
A long-simmering power struggle between them erupted into all-out war on April 15, 2023.
