United States President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he wants to focus his attention on helping find a solution to the civil war in Sudan between the military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The announcement came after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in his first visit to Washington in seven years, urged the US leader to intervene in the conflict.
According to Trump, war, which begins in 2023, was “not on my charts” before talks with the Crown Prince.
“His Majesty wants me to do something very powerful with Sudan,” he said at a business forum with the Saudi royal.
In response, Sudan’s Sovereign Council, led by army chief Abdel Fatah al-Burhan, said it would be willing to cooperate with the US and Saudi Arabia to bring peace.
In a statement, Fatah al-Burhan expressed his readiness to “seriously engage with the Sudanese people to achieve the peace they deserve.”
What did Trump say about helping end the war in Sudan?
According to the Republican president, his belief – before the Crown Prince’s intervention – was that the war in Sudan was “something that was crazy and out of control.”
Although the conflict did not explicitly appear on Trump’s radar, behind the scenes, many within the US government were making concerted efforts to find a path toward peace.
Recently on November 14, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the UAE Foreign Minister asking Abu Dhabi to support the Sudan ceasefire.
The fight for control of Sudan has killed more than 40,000 people and is said to have displaced more than 14 million.
At a lunch with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman along with several Saudi business leaders, Trump said the Middle East country’s leader had told him that ending the conflict would be “the biggest thing you could do, it would be even bigger than what you’ve already done.”
Speaking to the crown prince, Trump said: “I see how important this is to Sudan, to you and to many of your friends in the room. And we’re going to start working on Sudan.”
Saudi officials reportedly expressed concern to Washington that continued unrest in Sudan could lead to instability in the Red Sea and Africa, while creating conditions for extremist groups to move into the Middle East.
Edited by Shawn Sinico