Key points
- US prioritises ceasefire to allow aid access
- War in Sudan has killed, displaced millions
- Rubio calls for outside pressure on warring sides
WASHINGTON, United States: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the new year offered a chance for a humanitarian truce in war-ravaged Sudan as he urged outside countries to exert leverage.
“Ninety-nine percent of our focus is this humanitarian truce and achieving that as soon as possible,” Rubio told a news conference.
“And we think that the new year and the upcoming holidays are a great opportunity for both sides to agree to that, and we’re really pushing very hard in that regard,” he said, reports AFP.
Sudan has been devastated since the army and rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) went to war in April 2023, with tens of thousands of people killed, millions displaced and widespread abuses and hunger.
Rubio said both sides have violated commitments as he voiced alarm at new reports of humanitarian convoys being struck.
“What’s happening there is horrifying. It’s atrocious,” he said.
“One day, the story of what’s actually happened there is going to be known, and everyone involved is going to look bad.”
