Sudan’s prime minister claims victory; counts on Trump for peace 

KHARTOUM, Sudan — Sudan’s army-appointed prime minister declared victory last week in the long-running civil war against the rebel Rapid Support Forces, while holding court with foreign journalists in a borrowed conference room of the minerals department. 

The ad hoc meeting space represents the Sudanese Armed Forces attempt to exercise a degree of normalcy in the badly damaged and bullet-scarred Khartoum, since retaking it a year earlier in a brutal battle with the RSF.

The war is far from over, but the SAF’s recapture of the capital served as a major symbolic and psychological victory.  

“We can say, with total confidence, that we won this war,” Prime Minister Kamil Idris said in a rare meeting with visiting foreign journalists, which included The Hill. 

The RSF still controls a quarter of the country in the southwest, establishing a parallel government in Nyala, South Darfur. The front line is fluid and the international backers diverse.

The three-year war is the world’s largest humanitarian emergency, with half the population of 50 million people in need of dire humanitarian assistance. Much of the society is traumatized and fractured – victims of genocide, starvation, sexual violence, child conscription, displacement, racism, tribalism and scarred from seeing their friends and family killed. 

“We hope that 2026, as I have said before the security council of the United Nations, this is the year of peace for Sudan,” he said. “Objective and just peace, we are not surrendering this country. We are not compromising the sovereignty and integrity of this country.” 

Idris was appointed prime minister in May 2025 by SAF General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, the commander of the army and chairman of the Transitional Sovereign Council, a supposedly civilian governing body. 

Idris is the former head of the World Intellectual Property Organization, a niche but influential United Nations agency. His appointment served to give a civilian face to Sudan’s military-controlled government. In September, Idris represented Sudan at the U.N. General Assembly in New York. 

President Trump made a short-lived public push for a ceasefire between the SAF and the RSF last year. He did so at the request of Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman, one of the many international enablers of the war, along with Egypt, backing Burhan. The UAE is the main military backer of the RSF, although Dubai denies it provides military support.

Trump leaned on the Quad format – led by the U.S., with Saudi, Egypt and the UAE – to find an agreement among the conflict’s foreign backers as a way to pressure a truce between Burhan and RSF General Muhammad Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo. But the needle has not moved. 

“We still count on this expression of goodwill by President Trump, to work closely with Sudan, in order to establish durable peace inside the country,” Idris said. 

But can the U.S. be a trusted negotiator given its close ties with the U.A.E., especially the close coordination throughout the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran? 

“We are hopeful, we are optimistic, and we trust the good intentions, and the expression of goodwill, made by President Trump and his advisers,” the prime minister responded. 

“Even the Middle East or the Gulf war, we are very hopeful that in a few days time, hopefully a final peace agreement and a compromise will be established,” he added. 

Some SAF officials are more willing to openly criticize Trump’s lead negotiator, Massad Bolous, as biased toward Abu Dhabi. 

“If Massad Boulos wants to come to Sudan and tell us about where are all those Islamists that he’s been complaining about, he is welcome,” said Amgad Fareid Eltayeb, diplomatic advisor to Burhan.

“The American government does not want to come, and they are making all these allegations about Sudan without coming to see.”

The Trump administration has imposed a number of sanctions against Sudanese officials serving with the SAF for being “Islamist actors” with ties to Iran. 

This includes Sudan’s Finance Minister Gebreil Ibrahim Mohamed Fediel and the Al-Baraa Bin Malik Brigade, described as an “Islamist militia”. Later, the Treasury Department imposed sanctions on the Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood, which it identifies as operating over the al-Baraa Bin Malik Brigade.

Fareid also told The Hill that the government is open to hosting an independent investigation over chemical weapons use but said he has received no requests from anyone willing to carry it out. 

In December, a senior State Department official called for the SAF to acknowledge its use of chemical weapons, which the U.S. says occurred in 2024, and commit to prohibiting their use. The New York Times and France24 reported that the SAF had used chlorine gas against the RSF on at least two occasions. 

“We are committed to banning chemical weapons and the usage of chemical weapons inside the country, and I think the Sudanese army made a clear reflection to that,” Idris said in response to a question from The Hill. 

“There is no pattern of using chemical weapons in Sudan.”

Idris wants to rebuild Khartoum in less than a decade. But over the course of a year of the SAF controlling the city, the government does not have an estimate of how much money reconstruction will cost. They also haven’t decided if they want to “replan” or rebuild the city. 

And the SAF were excluded from what should be a priority venue to advocate for funds, the International Sudan Conference in Berlin on April 15, marking the third anniversary of the war. 

Idris said the Berlin conference will be a “total failure,” explaining that solutions cannot be imposed on Sudan. 

“You cannot decide on my behalf,” he said.

Not everyone in the government agrees, a signal of some independent thinking in the tightly-controlled public service. 

“Berlin is a way to get resources, we rely on our partners to advocate for us,” deputy director of International Health Reem Galal Ahmed said in an interview with visiting journalists.  

Ahmed said she provided a detailed list of the medical supplies and medicines needed to international organizations attending the conference. To reach an estimated 30 million Sudanese in need of assistance, Ahmed said that the Health Ministry needs $2.9 billion in funds. It only has $385 million.

“At the end, we need to support our people in Sudan,” she said. “We need to ensure the continuity of services and the availability of medical equipment and medical products.”

Things do seem to be changing, at least a little, for those people living under control of the SAF. 

Domestic flights between Port Sudan and Khartoum resumed in February, NGOs are returning to the capitol and the number of displaced people has declined by about three million across the country, signaling – at the very least – some level of opportunity and security. 

One Khartoum civilian who spoke with The Hill said that between the RSF and SAF, he believes that people choosing to move to SAF-controlled territory demonstrates that life under government forces is somewhat preferable. 

“After bearing this heavy humanitarian situation, especially from the Rapid Support Forces – terrorizing them, going inside their homes, looting them, devastation everywhere – they are being pressured to seek shelter in places where there is a bare minimum of safety, bare minimum of basic necessity,” the civilian said, requesting anonymity over fear of reprisal. 

“This doesn’t mean Sudanese Armed Forces are the good guys.”

The reporter is traveling to Sudan on a trip organized by the ONE Campaign with some logistical support from the Sudanese government.

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

More International News

Driscoll shuts down social media accounts after post celebrating Duckworth 

Scarborough: US allies ‘very positive’ about US blockade of Strait of Hormuz

Vance tells Pope Leo to ‘be careful’, Homan says ‘leave politics alone’

GOP senator calls on House to impeach Boasberg after contempt hearings halted

Georgia Republican says ouster of Gen. George will have ‘chilling ...

House Democrats file 5 impeachment articles against Hegseth

Leavitt says Interior will submit plans to begin construction of 250ft Trump ...

Iran Embassy in Tajikistan posts AI video of Jesus punching Trump in the face

Report: Cellular modules from Chinese companies in smart home devices are ...

A new Social Security COLA projection may be cause for ‘worry,’ senior ...

Cruz calls Carlson ‘deranged, leftist psycho’ following comments on ...

Bessent says order requiring banks to collect citizenship information ‘in ...

Republican House candidate drops out of Minnesota race for Middle East ...

2028 buzz builds as shadow presidential primary takes shape

Mike Johnson ‘taken aback’ by pope’s comments about war

Trump ‘prepared’ to nominate new Supreme Court justice if Alito, Thomas ...

Andy Beshear makes waves in Democratic circles as Southern moderate

Senate Republicans block fourth attempt to limit Trump’s Iran war powers

© The Hill