A new international push to end Sudan’s conflict has drawn broad support from civilian and political groups, even as Islamist factions rejected what they see as a bid to sideline them from the country’s future.
In a carefully timed sequence last week, the Quartet, which includes Saudi Arabia, the United States, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt, issued a joint statement setting out a political roadmap, Washington announced tough new sanctions on Islamist-linked figures, and the UN Security Council extended its sanctions regime on Sudan for another year.
The Quartet’s plan, described as a practical framework to end the fighting, calls for a three-month humanitarian truce to allow aid delivery, followed by a permanent ceasefire and a nine-month transition leading to a civilian government with broad legitimacy.
The initiative received an enthusiastic welcome from the “Sumud” coalition led by former Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, which said the Quartet’s explicit identification of Islamists as obstacles to peace offered “an accurate diagnosis of the crisis.”
The statement declared that Sudan’s future “cannot be dictated by violent extremist groups linked to the Muslim Brotherhood.”
Other civilian parties echoed that support.
The Unionist Alliance praised the roadmap as a step toward preserving Sudan’s unity, while the Sudanese Congress Party said it marked a pivotal moment, urging immediate humanitarian relief and warning against “mortgaging the country’s future to military factions and extremist ideologies.”
Independent lawyers’ and professional associations also called for a fully civilian-led transition, stressing accountability for atrocities against civilians.
Islamist groups, by contrast, denounced the Quartet’s initiative as an attempt to erase their political role. Commentator Al-Hindi Ezz al-Din dismissed it as a “conspiracy that equates the army with militias,” while former minister Abdel Majid Abdel Hamid called the plan “an insult that punishes those defending their country while ignoring those who feed the wolf at its mouth.”
In a parallel move, the US Treasury imposed sanctions on Finance Minister Gibril Ibrahim, leader of the Islamist-linked Justice and Equality Movement, and on the al-Bara ibn Malik Brigade, accusing both of obstructing peace and forging alliances with Iran.
Washington said Ibrahim had funneled thousands of fighters to the Sudanese army, fueling mass displacement and destruction, while the Islamist brigade deployed more than 20,000 combatants trained and armed by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.
At the same time, the UN Security Council extended existing sanctions on Sudan, including asset freezes, travel bans, and an arms embargo, until October 2026, renewing the mandate of its panel of experts.
Analysts in Sudan said the alignment of the Quartet’s roadmap, US sanctions, and UN measures points to a single international strategy built on two pillars: excluding Islamist forces from power and enforcing a civilian transition starting with a humanitarian truce.
Political analyst Mohamed Latif told Asharq Al-Awsat: “For the first time, the international community seems to understand the essence of Sudan’s crisis. The war is being waged by the Islamist movement to reclaim power. Recognizing that fact is not symbolic, it goes to the heart of the conflict.”
