US pushes for Sudan ceasefire as Rubio calls humanitarian truce 'immediate goal'

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday said Washington's immediate priority in Sudan is ending the fighting, as the country faces a deepening humanitarian calamity.

"The immediate goal we have is a cessation of hostilities, a humanitarian truce going into the new year that allows humanitarian organizations to be able to deliver aid to the people in great distress," Rubio told reporters at the Department of State during his end-of-year news conference.

Rubio said the situation on the ground remains dire, noting that aid delivery is currently "not possible."

"We are hearing and continue to see reports of humanitarian convoys actually being struck on their way in," he said.

Describing the conflict as deeply troubling, Rubio pointed to the role of outside actors in fueling the conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

He said the US has been engaging regional countries to push for a humanitarian truce, playing "a convening role in bringing the parties to the table," but acknowledged repeated setbacks.

"One of the challenges and frustrations in Sudan has been that one side or the other will commit to certain things, and then they won't live up to those commitments," he said.

The RSF has been at war with the Sudanese army since April 2023, following the collapse of a transition toward civilian rule. On Oct. 26, RSF forces overran El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, after a 500-day siege, triggering mass displacement and leaving civilians trapped with little access to food.