Sudanese Foreign Minister Mohieddin Salem said the government does not engage with the so-called International Quartet in any official capacity, noting that the group was not created by a UN Security Council resolution or by any recognized international body.
The remarks followed a trilateral meeting in Port Sudan late Tuesday, bringing together Salem, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, and Tom Fletcher, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, to review the worsening humanitarian situation in Sudan.
Salem said Khartoum maintains bilateral cooperation with “brothers in Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and friends in the United States,” adding that these states have shown full willingness to engage.
He dismissed the Quartet - comprising Saudi Arabia, the United States, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt - as an entity that “exists only in the media,” with no direct connection to Sudan’s government.
The minister said Fletcher’s visit would lead to “serious steps on the ground,” and reiterated Khartoum’s determination to expel what he described as “mercenaries of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF)” from the country.
He urged the international community to recognize developments in Sudan as “a foreign invasion.”
According to Salem, the talks in Port Sudan addressed rapid developments after RSF fighters entered El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, triggering mass displacement toward northern Sudan.
He said the meeting stressed the need for the international community to fully assume its responsibilities, including exerting pressure on the RSF and the foreign states alleged to support it.
The issue of “mercenaries” brought in by the RSF from multiple countries was also raised, with Sudan calling for action “in line with international law.”
Sudan’s Sovereign Council chairman Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, during his own meeting with Fletcher, affirmed readiness to cooperate with UN agencies, provided Sudan’s sovereignty and national interests are respected.
The Quartet has proposed a three-to-nine-month humanitarian truce to facilitate aid delivery and pave the way for a ceasefire. Sudan’s Security and Defense Council welcomed the effort but submitted its own plan for aid access.
According to “Al-Sudani” newspaper, the government conveyed observations to the Quartet, insisting any truce must include an RSF withdrawal from recently seized areas.
Khartoum also renewed demands to regroup RSF forces in previously designated camps and deploy Sudanese police in areas they vacate.
The government additionally proposed an international monitoring mechanism to oversee the truce and prevent arms shipments to the RSF. The RSF last week announced its willingness to enter such a humanitarian pause and discuss ceasefire arrangements.
