U.S. President Donald Trump said the conflict in Sudan is nearing an end, stressing that his administration is exerting maximum effort to stop the war that has been ongoing since April 2023, even as Sudan’s military leadership continues to insist on a military solution.
Speaking on Thursday at an annual iftar dinner, Trump said his administration was “very close to ending the war entirely,” adding: “We are doing everything we can to stop this conflict, and we have almost achieved it.”
Trump’s remarks came two days after his senior adviser for Middle East and Africa affairs, Massad Boulos, announced that a final framework for a deal to end the war in Sudan had been reached and that an agreement was imminent.
In contrast, Sudan’s military leaders have continued to emphasize battlefield escalation. Sudan’s Sovereignty Council head Abdel Fattah al-Burhan said in a message addressed to displaced residents of El Fasher that “the army is coming to liberate the city,” adding that displaced people “will return very soon.”
Meanwhile, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the SAF Shams al-Din Kabashi said the SAF would continue advancing toward El Fasher in Darfur, as well as Babanusa, Al-Dilling and Kadugli in Kordofan. He stressed that there would be “no negotiations or dialogue with the Rapid Support Forces,” and that military operations would continue “until the entire homeland is cleansed,” according to his statement.
Journalist Sabah Mohamed al-Hassan described the military leadership’s rhetoric as “a display of posturing,” arguing that a decision to withdraw armed forces from cities had already been finalized.
She said Burhan had approved a plan to empty cities of military forces and that its implementation began in the capital Khartoum last year. She added that recent disputes with joint forces, following instructions for them to leave urban areas, indicate that the decision applies to both sides of the conflict.
