Donald Trump’s envoy denies bias in US push for peace plan

President Donald Trump’s top envoy for Africa, Massad Boulos, has dismissed criticism that the latest U.S. proposal to end Sudan’s civil war is “biased.”

The United States, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have been trying to mediate between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which have been fighting for more than two years.

On Sunday, Sudanese Army Chief of Staff Abdel Fattah al-Burhan said the latest ceasefire proposal was unacceptable and that future ceasefire proposals would also be one-sided as long as the UAE was involved in the negotiations.

The Gulf state denies providing support to Doctors Without Borders, and Boulos said on Tuesday that the bias Burhan claimed did not exist.

“He mentioned something that doesn’t exist and we have never raised it. So we don’t know what he is talking about,” Boulos said at a media briefing with UAE presidential adviser Anwar Gargash, according to AFP.

Burhan said in a video address on Sunday that the latest peace plan proposal was the “worst ever” because it would see the army withdraw and “allow rapid support forces to stay”.

He accused Trump’s advisers of trying to impose conditions.

“We do not advocate war and we do not reject peace, but no one can threaten us or impose conditions on us,” he said.

“We are concerned that Massad Boulos could become an obstacle to the pursuit of peace for all Sudanese.”

The United States, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates – collectively known as the “Quad” – proposed a three-month humanitarian truce to both sides in September. They said the deal should be followed by a permanent ceasefire and a transition to civilian rule.

The military at the time rejected “foreign interference” – which observers said was a reference to the UAE – and any attempt to equate it with “racist terrorist militias relying on foreign mercenaries”.

The Sudanese army has repeatedly claimed that the UAE has been supplying arms and foreign fighters to Forces Without Borders.

U.N. experts say accusations of such military support are credible, but the Gulf state denies any ties to Médecins Sans Frontières.

On Monday, Doctors Without Borders announced a unilateral three-month ceasefire “in response to international efforts to end the war, principally those of His Excellency the President of the United States, Donald Trump.”

However, the military said on Tuesday that Médecins Sans Frontières had attacked the town of Babanousa, the army’s last stronghold in West Kordofan state.

In early November, the Sudanese capital Khartoum – controlled by the army – Doctors Without Borders hit by drone attack a day after agreeing to earlier humanitarian ceasefire.

Kholood Khair, a Sudanese analyst, told the BBC’s Newsday program that Médecins Sans Frontières’ ceasefire announcement “appears to be primarily a political ploy”.

Ms Kyle, founder of the think tank Confluence Advisory, said: “The military is so stubborn about the prospect of an armistice that it is, in effect, a way of achieving a political victory in the eyes of the four parties, especially the United States.”

Trump said last week he would intervene to help end the war, which has forced 12 million people from their homes and triggered what the United Nations says is the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

There is currently no system to record the death toll, but in May 2024, Tom Perriello, then the US special envoy for Sudan, put the death toll at an estimated 150,000.

In recent weeks, Reports on atrocities in El Fasher City, Sudan has triggered international condemnation.

Médecins Sans Frontières has been accused of mass killings, ethnic cleansing and sexual violence after seizing the city last month, the last major site in vast western Darfur not under its control.

The paramilitary group, once an ally of the army, has repeatedly denied the abuses, although last month the militia leader, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, announced an investigation into “violations” committed by his soldiers.

Both sides have been accused of war crimes in the conflict that broke out in April 2023.