PORT SUDAN, Sudan — Sudan's army chief Abdel Fattah Al Burhan, at war with a rival paramilitary group since April 2023, called on US President Donald Trump on Wednesday to bring peace.

 

"The Sudanese people now look to Washington to take the next step: to build on the US president's honesty and work with us to end this war," Burhan leader wrote in an op-ed published in The Wall Street Journal.

 

Attempts to broker peace between Burhan and his one-time deputy, Rapid Support Forces commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, have repeatedly failed over the course of the war that has killed tens of thousands, displaced 12 million and created the world's largest hunger and displacement crises.

 

Trump took an interest in the war for the first time last week, vowing he would end it after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman urged him to get involved.

 

"The consensus among Sudanese is that Mr Trump is a leader who speaks directly and acts decisively,” Burhan wrote.

 

The US, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt are currently attempting to broker a truce.

 

In his 1,200-word piece published Wednesday, Burhan said the choice was "between a sovereign state trying to protect its citizens and a genocidal militia bent on destroying communities".

 

Burhan's government is internationally recognised, and in January the US determined the RSF had committed genocide in the western region of Darfur.

 

RSF commander Daglo, whose fighters were originally contracted by Khartoum to fight its wars on Sudan's periphery, became Burhan's right-hand man after Sudan's 2018-2019 uprising.