THE Sudanese army has conditioned any broad acceptance of a US proposal for ending the country’s three-year-old civil war on the full withdrawal by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) from cities it has occupied, according to documents seen by Reuters.
The documents, the contents of which were confirmed by senior Sudanese officials, show that a US proposal last month called for both sides to agree to an immediate 90-day humanitarian truce, allowing for negotiation of a permanent ceasefire and a civilian-led transition to elections.
It also called for a UN-led mechanism to support limited withdrawals by the RSF, prioritising North Darfur, where the RSF recently took over the city of Al Fashir in a violent attack, and North Kordofan, a current target of RSF drone strikes.
The army-led Sudanese government accepted most of the proposal but objected to only a limited withdrawal, saying the plan must include “the withdrawal of (the RSF) from all the cities it has occupied since May 11, 2023,” the documents showed.
The army demand for broad RSF withdrawal has been a repeated stumbling block in previous peace efforts.
The US State Department did not respond to a request for comment. The Sudanese Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The US proposal also called for a unified national army with disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration arrangements, as well as a Sudanese civilian-led political process excluding the Muslim Brotherhood or militia elements that committed atrocities.
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