The United States, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates have proposed a three-month humanitarian truce in Sudan, followed by a permanent ceasefire and nine-month transition to civilian-led governance, according to a joint statement from their foreign ministers on Friday.

The plan, aimed at ending the conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), seeks to facilitate aid delivery, protect civilians, and halt indiscriminate attacks on infrastructure. The ministers, representing the influential “Quad” group, emphasize that no military solution exists and the status quo poses severe risks to regional peace.

The statement supports the Jeddah process led by Saudi Arabia and the US, as well as Egypt’s Sudanese civil and political forces forum held in July 2024, with further consultations planned for a September 2025 Quad meeting.

The proposal rejects any role for the Muslim Brotherhood or affiliated groups, a shared concern among the four nations, referencing Islamists who ruled Sudan for three decades until 2019 and have resurfaced in support of the army.

On Friday, the US imposed sanctions on Sudan’s Finance Minister Jibril Ibrahim, an Islamist, and the Baraa Ibn-Malik Brigade, an army-aligned militia, to curb Islamist influence and Iran’s regional activities. The warring parties have not commented, though a June UN call for a one-week al-Fashir truce was accepted by the army but rejected by the RSF.

Since April 2023, the civil war has killed tens of thousands, displaced 12 million—including 7.7 million internally, half children—and created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with famine in areas like al-Fashir under RSF siege.

This initiative, amid Sudan’s history of political upheaval since 2019, offers a potential path to stability, though skepticism lingers over enforcement and party compliance.