US' Rubio presses UAE for Sudan ‘humanitarian ceasefire’ in phone call

WASHINGTON / ISTANBUL

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio pressed the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on the need to achieve a “humanitarian ceasefire” in Sudan during a call Friday with Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, according to a State Department readout.

Rubio “emphasized the importance of achieving a humanitarian ceasefire in Sudan,” the State Department said in a statement.

Rubio and Al Nahyan also discussed efforts to implement President Donald Trump’s 20-point Gaza ceasefire plan and affirmed the “strategic relationship” between the US and the UAE, the statement added.

Speaking to reporters after a G7 meeting in Canada earlier this week, Rubio said action was needed to halt weapons support to Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) as the humanitarian situation for civilians in the country is deteriorating rapidly.

Sudan’s Foreign Minister Mohieldin Salem welcomed Rubio’s remarks, urging the international community to act as the RSF besieges multiple cities in the country.

El-Basha Tibeig, an adviser to RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, called the comments “an unfortunate step” undermining efforts by a US-led group of four countries known as Quad, including the UAE, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, to reach a humanitarian truce in Sudan.

In a separate statement, the UAE’s Foreign Ministry said Bin Zayed and Rubio explored ways to strengthen strategic ties between the two countries and discussed regional developments, “including the tragic situation in Sudan.”

It said Bin Zayed emphasized “the importance of activating the provisions of the statement issued last September by the Quad, comprising the UAE, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the US, to end the conflict in Sudan and reach a peaceful resolution to the crisis,” the ministry said.

Sudan has been locked in a deadly war between the army and the RSF since April 2023. It has killed at least 40,000 people and displaced 12 million, according to the World Health Organization.

Last week, the RSF said that it had agreed to join a humanitarian truce proposed by the Quad. Chairman of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereignty Council Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, however, rejected on Friday any truce or peace agreement with the RSF until the group first lays down its weapons.

Last month, the RSF captured El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, amid reports of mass killings and atrocities against civilians. The group controls all five Darfur states out of Sudan’s 18 states, while the army holds most of the remaining 13 states, including Khartoum.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates that nearly 100,000 people have fled El-Fasher since the RSF takeover.