WASHINGTON — The United States is urging certain foreign nations not to fuel Sudan's civil war by arming fighting factions, as the country faces one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.
Meanwhile, Washington has also called on Sudan's warring sides to enforce a code of conduct to reduce abuses, noting that the army is considering the proposal after its rival paramilitary forces have agreed to it.
More than 25 million people face acute hunger and more than 10 million have been displaced from their homes since fighting erupted in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces, or SAF, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, the State Department said.
“Unfortunately, we've seen a significant proliferation of the number of external actors that are playing a role on both sides,” and they are not putting the interest of the Sudanese people “at the core of this,” said Tom Perriello, U.S. special envoy for Sudan.
“In addition to UAE [the United Arab Emirates] supporting the RSF,” Perriello told reporters on Tuesday, “we see foreign fighters coming in from across the Sahel. We've seen Iran, Russia, other negative actors on the SAF side.”
U.S.-brokered peace talks on Sudan that concluded last week in Geneva failed to end the country's 16-month conflict. But one of the warring sides, the RSF, agreed to a code of conduct pledging to avoid violence against women, exploitation at checkpoints and the destruction of crops.
Perriello said that the U.S. has presented the proposal to the SAF leaders who were absent in the Switzerland negotiations.
"They have the code of conduct in front of them. We hope to get a response from them in the coming days," Perriello said.
The United States has accused the SAF and RSF of war crimes, with the RSF specifically charged with ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity targeting the indigenous African-origin people of Darfur.
During the talks in Geneva, the U.S., along with representatives from the African Union, the United Arab Emirates, the United Nations, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Switzerland, focused on reopening three humanitarian corridors — the Western border crossing in Darfur at Adre, the northern Dabbah Road from Port Sudan and the southern access route through Sennar.
Later this week, the U.S. will have a first formal follow-up with the heads of delegations.
Humanitarian assistance deliveries have resumed via two of the three routes: across the border at Adre from Chad and along the Dabbah Road into famine-stricken areas of Sudan.
In a statement late Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken welcomed the reopening of humanitarian corridors, saying lack of humanitarian aid access into Darfur over the past six months has exacerbated the historic levels of famine and acute hunger across Sudan, particularly within the Zamzam camp.
