US Secretary of State: External Support for Sudanese Parties Must Stop

Rome – Sudanhorizon
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that his country believes it is essential to pressure those supplying weapons to the warring parties in Sudan to cease this support in order to achieve peace, not just a simple humanitarian truce.
The US State Department released Rubio’s remarks Saturday , following his meeting with the Pope on Friday, in response to a question about President Donald Trump’s pledge last year to personally intervene to help end the war in Sudan.
In one of his speeches, the Pope described the war as one of the world’s greatest tragedies, a statement Rubio echoed, saying that what is happening in Sudan “is a terrible tragedy.”
Rubio added that his country has been heavily involved through the Quartet Dialogue process, and that it is clear that Sudan has become, in a way, a proxy war arena for several countries that support some of the warring factions. There are other countries that are not directly involved, but have allowed their territories to be used as transit routes for weapons shipments.
He pointed out that his country’s focus, within the Quartet, in Sudan was on establishing a humanitarian truce that would allow them to deliver aid to those severely affected there, without addressing a broader agreement.

He added that it therefore, they are seeking a humanitarian truce that would enable them to identify a number of communities as safe havens for distributing humanitarian aid in light of this humanitarian crisis, which is one of the worst in the world. “But we cannot achieve this unless the necessary security is in place to deliver aid. And we do not want this to be the final solution.”
He said that in addition to humanitarian corridors and sites, there is a need to end this conflict, and that “the best way to end this conflict is for the countries and parties supporting the warring elements to compel these elements to reach a peace agreement that ends this conflict.”
Rubio reiterated that his country has been heavily involved in the Quartet dialogue process and that they have invested a great deal of time in it, and were remain engaged in it daily. “In fact, we have people in our Africa office, in addition to our Special Envoy, Massad Boulos, who are involved in this matter almost daily.”

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