EFFORTS to bring about a halt to the horrific war in Sudan are increasing behind the scenes of the United Nations general assembly, it was reported from New York today.

Alan Boswell, the International Crisis Group’s project director for the Horn of Africa, said this year’s high-level general assembly meeting, which ends on Monday, could be a “make-or-break” chance to stop the conflict.

“For the first time since the war broke out more than two years ago, Sudan’s most influential outside powers agreed this month on a road map to end the war,” he said in a statement. 

“Now comes the huge task of trying to convince Sudan’s warring parties to stop fighting.”

The north-east African country plunged into conflict in mid-April 2023, when tensions between its rival military and paramilitary commanders broke out into deadly fighting in the capital Khartoum and spread to the western region of Darfur and much of the rest of Sudan.

At least 40,000 people have been killed, nearly 13 million displaced and many pushed to the brink of famine, with over 24 million acutely food insecure, UN agencies say.

The United States, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates issued a joint statement on September 12 calling for a humanitarian truce for an initial three months to allow the delivery of desperately needed aid throughout Sudan, followed by a permanent ceasefire.

Then, the four countries said: “An inclusive and transparent transition process should be launched and concluded within nine months to meet the aspirations of the Sudanese people towards smoothly establishing an independent, civilian-led government with broad-based legitimacy and accountability.”

The group, calling themselves the Quad, met on Wednesday on the sidelines of the assembly to discuss the implementation of their road map.

Another meeting the same day, also focused on de-escalating the war, was convened by the African Union (AU), the European Union and the foreign ministers of Germany, France and Britain.

Representatives of the Quad, a dozen other countries, the Arab League, the UN and east Africa regional group the Intergovernmental Authority on Development also attended.

A statement issued by the AU, EU, France, Germany, Britain, Denmark, Norway and Canada after the meeting urged the government and its paramilitary Rapid Support Forces enemies to resume direct negotiations to achieve a permanent ceasefire.

Speaking to the assembly on Thursday, Sudan’s transitional Prime Minister Kamil El-Tayeb Idris said his government was committed to a Sudanese-developed road map, including a ceasefire “accompanied by the withdrawal of the terrorist Rapid Support militia from the areas and cities it occupies.”