US calls for ceasefire in Sudan

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is calling for a ceasefire in Sudan amid days of fighting as the army and a rival force battle for control of the country.

“There is a shared deep concern about the fighting, the violence that’s going on in Sudan; the threat that that poses to civilians, that it poses to the Sudanese nation, and potentially poses even to the region,” Blinken said in remarks with the United Kingdom’s foreign secretary, James Cleverly.

“There is … also a strongly held view – again, across all of our partners – on the need for an immediate ceasefire and a return to talks, talks that were very promising in putting Sudan on the path to a full transition to civilian-led government,” Blinken said.

The civilian death toll reached 97 over the weekend as Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan of Sudan’s armed forces battles for power with Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, who leads the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces. Burhan and Dagalo are former allies who together orchestrated an October, 2021 military coup that derailed Sudan’s transition to democracy. 

Violence has broken out in Sudan’s capital and throughout the country, with gunfire and shelling leading to power outages.

About a third of the population, or 16 million people, already depend on humanitarian assistance, but groups like the the World Food Program and the International Rescue Committee have had to pause their work amid the fighting.

“People in Sudan want the military back in the barracks. They want democracy. They want civilian-led government. Sudan needs to return to that path,” Blinken said. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.