Head of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) Mohammed Hamdan Daglo "Hemedti" proposed on Sunday a comprehensive political solution to the crisis in the country.
The statement came as fighting between the RSF and the army, headed by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, enters its 20th week with no side claiming victory while millions have been driven from their homes in the capital and other cities.
The United Nations has warned of a "humanitarian catastrophe of epic proportions", with rising hunger, collapsing healthcare, and wrecked infrastructure.
The two sides blame each other for starting the war on April 15, after weeks of tension over the integration of their troops into a single force as part of a transition to democracy.
The two sides led the country together since toppling Omar al-Bashir in 2019 and pushing civilian politicians out of the government in a coup in 2021.
In the statement released late on Sunday, Hemedti appeared willing to negotiate with the army over the shape of the future Sudanese state, going beyond the technicalities of a permanent ceasefire which have hindered Saudi and US-sponsored mediation efforts.
"Efforts to end the protracted crisis must be directed toward achieving a lasting ceasefire, coupled with comprehensive political solutions that address the root causes of Sudan's wars," the statement said.
Under his "Sudan Reborn" plan, Hemedti committed the RSF to previously floated principles such as federal, multicultural rule, democratic elections, and a single army.
He said the initiative was being proposed after "war was imposed on him."
"Sudan must be founded as a real republic where authority and power belong to all Sudanese," he added.
He called for fair and free elections within a "real democratic federal system based on the separation and partnership of powers."
The initiative must include the "forces that resisted and toppled Bashir's ideological regime."
The initiative excludes members of the National Conference and members of the former regime, as well as groups and figures that "secretly or openly undermined change and the shift towards democracy in the years that followed the regime’s ouster."
Meanwhile, Burhan arrived in Port Sudan on Sunday seemingly ahead of a foreign tour.
