Norway's Special Envoy to Sudan confirms there is no new US-backed peace proposal

The head of Sudan’s armed forces has welcomed a statement by Norway’s Deputy Foreign Minister and Special Envoy to Sudan that no new US peace proposal has been presented to the Sudanese government.

Last week General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who also heads Sudan’s Transnational Sovereign Council, had denounced what he said was a new US-backed plan that would disband the army. But at a meeting with Burhan in Port Sudan on Thursday, Andreas Kravik said it was a misunderstanding:

"The only proposal remains the one tabled several weeks ago. Suggestions to the country are without foundation. We urge all parties to continue engaging on the basis of that proposal, and it is also critical that a humanitarian truce is followed by an inclusive political process towards a unified and stable Sudan.”

In September, the US, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the UAE put forward a plan for a three-month humanitarian ceasefire in Sudan, intended to pave the way for a permanent end to the fighting and start the process of restoring an independent civilian government.

More than two years of fighting between Sudan’s armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has created what the United Nations calls one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. At least 40,000 people have been killed and 12 million displaced.

Kravik urged the two parties to implement a humanitarian truce and reestablish a political process in the war-torn country.