US government calls for end to Sudan's 'senseless war'

US President Joe Biden on Tuesday called on the warring parties in Sudan to end their bloody power struggle, which has been raging for a year and a half.

"For over 17 long months, the Sudanese people have endured a senseless war that has created one of the world's worst humanitarian crises," Biden said in a statement.

The US leader highlighted the kidnapping and sexual assault of women and girls as well as the famine in the region of Darfur as he pleaded for negotiations to end the conflict to recommence.

"I call on the belligerents responsible for Sudanese suffering—the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF)—to pull back their forces, facilitate unhindered humanitarian access, and re-engage in negotiations to end this war," Biden said.

A power struggle between the de facto president Abdel Fattah al-Burhan's SAF and his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo's RSF has been raging in Africa's third-largest country since April 2023.

More than 10 million people have been displaced, 2 million of whom have fled across the borders to neighbouring countries, according to the UN. Humanitarian organizations are warning of famine.

Last week, the aid organization Doctors Without Borders warned that thousands of children could soon die of hunger in North Darfur region due to a blockade of a site for internally displaced people.

In late August, the latest US efforts to negotiate a ceasefire failed. With aid payments of $1.6 billion, Washington is, by its own account, "the world's largest provider of assistance to the Sudanese people."

"We call for all parties to this conflict to end this violence and refrain from fueling it, for the future of Sudan and for all of the Sudanese people," Biden said.