Since April 15, 2023, Sudan’s army and the RSF have fought a nationwide war that successive regional and international mediations have failed to stop, leaving thousands dead and millions displaced.

The latest US-led effort draws on a framework developed with Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE that links a time-bound ceasefire to a nine-month transition back to an independent, civilian-led government.

Quad Plan Tests Warring Sides

A September 12 Quad meeting in Washington — bringing together the US, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE — outlined a three-month truce followed by a nine-month transition to civilian rule.

US adviser Massad Boulos says the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces have agreed “in principle” to an initial version of that plan and raised no formal objections, while US channels, not direct talks, work through ceasefire and transition details.

Army Signals Resolve To Fight

After Sudan’s security and defense council met in Khartoum to review the proposal, Defense Minister Hassan Kabroun said “preparations for the Sudanese people’s battle are ongoing,” calling continued readiness “a legitimate national right.”

Army committees are now weighing whether to keep fighting or accept the US-backed three-month ceasefire, even though authorities had earlier rejected a similar Quad blueprint that would have excluded both armed camps from a transition.

The war, which began on April 15, 2023, has already killed tens of thousands.

El Fasher Atrocities And Partition Fears

The debate unfolds against the backdrop of El Fasher, seized by the RSF on October 26 after a siege of more than a year, with reports alleging around 2,000 people killed.

Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court have expressed “profound alarm” over mass killings and sexual violence that they warn may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, while the UN chief says the conflict is “spiraling out of control” amid “unimaginable violence.”

The fall of El Fasher gave the RSF control of all five Darfur state capitals and pushed Sudan toward an east–west split, with Darfur and parts of the south under the RSF and Khartoum, Port Sudan and the Nile–Red Sea corridor held by the army; a US estimate put deaths at at least 150,000 by 2024.