The US, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Egypt called on Friday for a three-month humanitarian truce in Sudan, to be followed by a permanent ceasefire and a nine-month transition toward civilian rule.
In a joint statement issued by the US Department of State, the four countries said the transition should “meet the aspirations of the Sudanese people toward smoothly establishing an independent, civilian-led government with broad-based legitimacy and accountability.”
Since April 2023, Sudan has been torn apart by war between its army — which maintains control over most state institutions — and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Photo: Reuters
The conflict has killed tens of thousands, displaced millions and created what the UN describes as one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
“Sudan’s future governance is for the Sudanese people to decide through an inclusive and transparent transition process, not controlled by any warring party,” Friday’s statement said.
The statement appeared to have been released in lieu of a meeting involving the foreign ministers of the four countries that had originally been scheduled for July in Washington, but was postponed due to disagreements between Egypt and the UAE.
Egypt, a key ally of Sudan’s regular army, has consistently called for the protection of state institutions. The UAE has been widely accused — including in UN reports — of supplying arms to the RSF, a claim it denies.
Diplomatic sources said that Cairo objected to earlier language barring the army and the RSF from taking part in the transition.
The final language appears to reflect a compromise, avoiding specific mention of either side, while insisting that Sudan’s next government be decided by the public.
Shamans in Peru on Monday gathered for an annual New Year’s ritual where they made predictions for the year to come, including illness for US President Donald Trump and the downfall of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. “The United States should prepare itself because Donald Trump will fall seriously ill,” Juan de Dios Garcia proclaimed as he gathered with other shamans on a beach in southern Lima, dressed in traditional Andean ponchos and headdresses, and sprinkling flowers on the sand. The shamans carried large posters of world leaders, over which they crossed swords and burned incense, some of which they stomped on. In this
Near the entrance to the Panama Canal, a monument to China’s contributions to the interoceanic waterway was torn down on Saturday night by order of local authorities. The move comes as US President Donald Trump has made threats in the past few months to retake control of the canal, claiming Beijing has too much influence in its operations. In a surprising move that has been criticized by leaders in Panama and China, the mayor’s office of the locality of Arraijan ordered the demolition of the monument built in 2004 to symbolize friendship between the countries. The mayor’s office said in
‘TRUMP’S LONG GAME’: Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said that while fraud was a serious issue, the US president was politicizing it to defund programs for Minnesotans US President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday said it was auditing immigration cases involving US citizens of Somalian origin to detect fraud that could lead to denaturalization, or revocation of citizenship, while also announcing a freeze of childcare funds to Minnesota and demanding an audit of some daycare centers. “Under US law, if an individual procures citizenship on a fraudulent basis, that is grounds for denaturalization,” US Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. Denaturalization cases are rare and can take years. About 11 cases were pursued per year between 1990 and 2017, the Immigrant Legal Resource
‘RADICALLY DIFFERENT’: The Kremlin said no accord would be reached if the new deal with Kyiv’s input did not remain within the limits fixed by the US and Russia in August Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is to meet US President Donald Trump in Florida this weekend, but Russia on Friday accused him and his EU backers of seeking to “torpedo” a US-brokered plan to stop the fighting. Today’s meeting to discuss new peace proposals comes amidst Trump’s intensified efforts to broker an agreement on Europe’s worst conflict since World War II. The latest plan is a 20-point proposal that would freeze the war on its current front line, but open the door for Ukraine to pull back troops from the east, where demilitarized buffer zones could be created, according to details revealed by
RSS