White House calls for immediate Sudan ceasefire

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House on Monday called for an immediate ceasefire to fighting in Sudan between the army and a paramilitary force and said U.S. officials are in touch with the military leaders there.

“We deplore the escalating violence out of Khartoum and elsewhere in Sudan. We call for an immediate ceasefire without conditions between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), said a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council.

The spokesperson said U.S. officials have been in direct contact with army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan as well as RSF leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti.

The message to them was “to urge them to end hostilities immediately without preconditions. And we are consulting very closely with regional and other partners on the situation in Sudan,” the official said.

“This dangerous escalation jeopardizes the progress made to-date in the negotiations to restore Sudan’s democratic transition, and it undermines the aspirations of the Sudanese people. They want an end to fighting and to see a democratic Sudan,” the spokesperson said.

(Reporting By Steve Holland; Editing by Chris Reese and Grant McCool)