WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump said he will work to help end the war in Sudan after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman asked him to get involved in the matter.
"We've already started
working on that," Trump said at a Saudi investment conference a day after he met with Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler at the White House.
The Sudan 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.
The Saudi crown prince believes Trump's direct pressure is 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, five people familiar with the matter said.
The Saudi ruler appeared to appeal to the U.S. president's view of himself as a peacemaker, according to Trump's account
"He mentioned Sudan yesterday, and he said, 'Sir, you're talking about a lot of wars, but there's a place on Earth called Sudan, and it's horrible what's happening,'" Trump said.
For Saudi Arabia, a resolution to the conflict is linked to national security, with hundreds of miles (kilometers) of Sudanese coastline lying opposite the kingdom's Red Sea coast.
Trump said his administration began working on the issue half an hour after the crown prince explained its importance.
(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt, Bhargav Arachaya, Doina Chiacu; editing by Costas Pitas)
