Saudi prince to press Trump to intervene to end Sudan war, sources say

Saudi Arabia's defacto ruler Mohammed bin Salman is set to press U.S. President Donald Trump to personally intervene to help end the war in Sudan during talks in Washington on Tuesday, five people familiar with the matter said.

The sources -- two Arab diplomats and three western diplomats -- said the Saudi Crown Prince believed Trump's direct pressure was needed to break a logjam in talks to end more than two and a half years of war, pointing to his work to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza last month.

The conflict erupted in 2023 amid a power struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) ahead of a planned transition to civilian rule. It has caused ethnically-charged bloodletting, widespread destruction and mass displacement, drawing in foreign powers and threatening to split Sudan.

Both the RSF and the army have increasingly relied on drone strikes in recent months, leading to heavy civilian casualties.

In raising the issue with Trump, Saudi Arabia is seeking to appeal to the U.S. president's view of himself as a peacemaker, the sources said, with Trump having said repeatedly that he was seeking a Nobel Peace Prize for his work to address global conflicts.

Reuters