‘Stand on right side of history’: Sudan’s PM urges Security Council to endorse initiative to end war

Sudan’s Prime Minister Kamil Idris has appealed to the UN Security Council to endorse his peace initiative aimed at halting the African country’s devastating war and placing it under international oversight.

Addressing the UN in New York on Monday, Idris called on the UNSC to “stand on the right side of history” by backing a plan that calls for a comprehensive ceasefire in Sudan and global monitoring of the conflict.

“We need to declare a comprehensive ceasefire, under joint monitoring by the United Nations, the African Union and the League of Arab States, in parallel with the withdrawal of the rebel militia from all areas it occupies,” stressed the Sudanese prime minister, who heads Sudan’s transitional government.

Fighting erupted in April 2023 between Sudan’s army and the so-called Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a powerful paramilitary group that controls the west and parts of the south.

The war has killed more than 40,000 people and displaced millions, with credible reports of widespread rape and ethnically motivated violence that the UN and international rights groups say amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Idris also pledged to hold free elections after a transitional period focused on inter-Sudanese dialogue. 

The RSF is widely seen as unlikely to back the prime minister’s plan, which would effectively hand victory to government forces and strip the group of its military strength.

Idris said unless the paramilitary forces were confined to camps, a ceasefire had “no chance for success,” challenging the 15 members of the UNSC to support his proposal.

“This initiative can mark the moment when Sudan steps back from the edge and the international community — You! You! — stood on the right side of history," the Sudanese prime minister said, stressing that the UN Security Council should “be remembered not as a witness to collapse, but as a partner in recovery.”

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Despite US President Donald Trump expressing willingness in November to help end the conflict, talks led by the US and mediators from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) remain stalled.

In an apparent reference to the truce supported by the US and the mediators, Idris told the UNSC that his government’s proposal is “homemade — not imposed on us.”

Speaking to the Council before Idris, US deputy ambassador Jeffrey Bartos said the Trump administration has offered a humanitarian truce as a way forward, and added that, “We urge both belligerents to accept this plan without preconditions immediately.”

The persisting war has triggered the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, displacing more than 14 million people and fueling the spread of disease and famine in parts of Sudan.

Sudanese authorities have repeatedly said the RSF enjoys unconditional support from the UAE. Khartoum has filed a case against the UAE at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over "complicity in genocide" through military, financial and political backing for the RSF.

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