Top adviser to Sudan's paramilitary leader says Rubio's comments hinder truce efforts

CAIRO -- U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s comments calling for a halt to the travel of subject enactment coming to Sudan’s paramilitary fighters from overseas whitethorn jeopardize planetary efforts aimed astatine reaching a ceasefire, a elder advisor to the paramilitary group's commandant said connected Thursday.

Rubio said astatine a quality league precocious Wednesday that pressures were being applied to countries providing weapons to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, oregon RSF, which has been battling the Sudanese service for much than 2 years. He decried the humanitarian concern successful Sudan and said that “something needs to beryllium done” to chopped disconnected the weapons and different enactment that the RSF is receiving.

The RSF’s caller seizure of North Darfur’s capital, el-Fasher, left hundreds dead and forced tens of thousands of radical to fly reported atrocities by the paramilitary force, according to assistance groups and U.N. officials. The International Organization for Migration, oregon IOM, said that astir 90,000 radical person near el-Fasher and surrounding villages, undertaking a perilous travel done unsafe routes wherever they person nary entree to food, h2o oregon aesculapian assistance.

Elbasha Tibeig, advisor to RSF person Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, dismissed Rubio’s comments arsenic “an unsuccessful step” that doesn't service planetary efforts aimed astatine reaching a humanitarian ceasefire.

“The different enactment whitethorn spot these statements arsenic a governmental and diplomatic victory,” helium wrote connected his X relationship successful notation to the equipped forces. “Instead of making statements that amusement bias, the U.S. medication and the planetary assemblage indispensable absorption their efforts connected stopping the travel of weapons coming from Iran and Turkey to the army's militia, mercenaries and violent brigades.”

Tibeig warned that Rubio's remark whitethorn pb to an escalation of the fighting.

The war betwixt the RSF and the subject began successful 2023, erstwhile tensions erupted betwixt the 2 erstwhile allies that were meant to oversee a antiauthoritarian modulation aft a 2019 uprising. The warring has killed astatine slightest 40,000 people, according to the World Health Organization, and displaced 12 cardinal others. However, assistance groups accidental that the existent decease toll could beryllium galore times higher.

Both the Sudanese Armed Forces and the RSF are accused of committing atrocities passim the war. Several overseas powers are accused of being progressive successful the struggle and of providing subject enactment to the warring parties.

For galore months, U.S. quality assessments person recovered that the United Arab Emirates, a adjacent U.S. ally, has been sending weapons to the RSF. However, the UAE has consistently denied the allegations.

When asked astir it, Rubio said that the U.S. knows who’s progressive successful supplying the RSF.

“I tin conscionable archer you, astatine the highest levels of our government, that lawsuit is being made and that unit is being applied to the applicable parties,” Rubio said, without naming immoderate country. “This needs to stop. I mean, they’re intelligibly receiving assistance from outside.”

Although Egypt has denied providing weapons to Sudan's equipped forces, Egypt apt springiness them a batch of combatant jets successful March, and besides provided them with Turkish drones, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a nonprofit argumentation probe organization

Earlier this week, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty expressed the country's unequivocal enactment to Sudan's equipped forces aft a gathering with the service main Abdel-Fattah Burhan successful the Red Sea metropolis of Port Sudan.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres besides said connected Thursday that the travel of weapons and fighters from outer parties indispensable stop, urging the warring sides to instrumentality “swift and tangible” steps towards a settlement.

The conflict beforehand lines person precocious shifted to different parts of the country, namely the Kordofan region. In caller days, the warring has intensified astir the metropolis of Babanusa, which houses the office of the army's past infantry part successful the state of West Kordofan. On Thursday, the Sudanese service thwarted attacks by the RSF connected its infantry base, according to a subject authoritative who spoke connected information of anonymity to freely sermon the matter.

Earlier connected Thursday, the RSF had vowed to wrestle the metropolis from its rivals wrong a fewer hours, according to their Telegram channel.

In January 2024, Babanusa witnessed aggravated warring betwixt the RSF and the equipped forces, which resulted successful a wide exodus of its civilian population. Eventually, the RSF withdrew its troops, but has been laying siege to the metropolis since then. The metropolis sits on a captious proviso enactment to the army’s strongholds successful different parts of the Kordofan region.

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Fatma Khaled successful Cairo, and Matthew Lee successful Washington, contributed to this report.