Amjad Farid, an adviser to Sudanese army leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, warned on September 30 that a U.S. ceasefire proposal could push Sudan toward a partition modeled on Libya. He spoke to Reuters from New York, where he attended the U.N. General Assembly.
“Mr Boulos seems to be putting pressure on us to accept a de facto partitioning of the country similar to Libyan model,” Farid said. He meant Massad Boulos, the U.S. Senior Advisor for Arab and African Affairs.
The Proposal and the Objections
Boulos's plan would impose a 90-day ceasefire, followed by negotiations to end the war and resume the move to civilian rule. On paper, it's a familiar diplomatic sequence: stop the shooting first, settle the politics later.
Khartoum objects to what the plan leaves standing. “Our concern is that the approach Mr Boulos continues to advance appears to accommodate the militia’s continued existence and preserve a place for it in Sudan’s political future,” Farid said, referring to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The army-led government submitted proposed changes, chiefly an internationally monitored RSF withdrawal from urban areas. Farid said Washington appeared to have ignored them.
Visa Dispute and a Canceled Meeting
The friction now extends beyond the negotiating text. A week before the latest report, Reuters said Burhan's visa to attend the General Assembly had been withheld because he hadn't accepted the proposal. A Sudanese delegation had prepared to meet Boulos in Washington the previous week to discuss the ceasefire. Two Sudanese diplomats told Reuters that the visa decision prompted the cancellation. They requested anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak.
The U.S. State Department didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. The previous week, the department said neither the RSF nor the armed forces “represent legitimate, constitutional governance for Sudan.” The United States has accused the RSF of genocide and the army of war crimes, including using chemical weapons.
A Parallel Government Without Institutions
The army has fought the paramilitary RSF since April 2023, a span of three years and about five months. The two sides fell out over issues including how to integrate their forces in a planned transition to civilian rule.
Analysts and officials have long warned that the conflict could produce a de facto division like neighboring Libya's. Libya has remained split between rival eastern and western administrations for more than a decade. Since last year, the RSF has sought to establish a parallel government in Nyala, in western Darfur. It has appointed ministers, and some police are active. But the group hasn't established public services or institutions such as schools, hospitals and courts.
The RSF has made no recent statements on the U.S. proposal after recent battlefield defeats. Its leader has said its fighters intend to continue the war.
Why This Matters:
The dispute shows how people can judge a ceasefire framework by what it makes permanent, not only by whether it stops the fighting. Sudan's government argues that a deal preserving the RSF's political role would entrench armed control of territory rather than restore a functioning state. The facts on the ground lend weight to that concern: the RSF's Nyala administration has ministers and some police but no schools, hospitals or courts. Washington's public position—that neither side is a legitimate constitutional government—leaves open who would hold authority in a civilian transition. Libya's decade-plus division is the precedent both analysts and officials cite. For a Western government, the question is whether its leverage, including a withheld visa, produces a durable settlement or a frozen, divided country.