The newly appointed US Special Envoy to Sudan has begun a diplomatic tour of East Africa and the Gulf.
Tom Perriello’s trip comes weeks before the first anniversary of Sudan’s civil war, and shortly after the UN Security Council’s call for a ceasefire during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
His visit will take in Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya, Uganda, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – which has been widely accused of funding and arming the Sudanese paramilitary RSF. It denies the charges.
Sudan is suffering from the biggest displacement crisis in the world, and aid agencies warn it risks becoming the world’s largest hunger crisis.
The new US envoy said his trip was focused on the urgent need to end the war, and to get humanitarian access to all the Sudanese people.
But even before he departed, reports said a top general in Sudan’s army rejected a Ramadan ceasefire – unless the RSF leaves civilian and public sites.
The Americans are also pushing to open more land routes for aid from Chad – the army had closed access points, saying the RSF was using it to transport weapons, and has only re-opened one.