Sudan co-chairs urge renewed ceasefire talks and civilian political dialogue

The African Union, European Union, France, Germany, United Kingdom and United States called on Sudan’s warring parties to resume negotiations for a permanent ceasefire in a joint statement published on 30 September after a ministerial meeting in New York during the UN General Assembly. The co-chairs also backed an inclusive, Sudanese-led political dialogue. Their statement sets out diplomatic priorities but does not say that ceasefire talks have resumed or that either side has accepted a proposal.

The meeting was intended to coordinate responses to Sudan’s humanitarian crisis and support efforts by the Quintet to establish a civilian political process, according to the co-chairs’ statement. They said they were ready to take further action to support the conclusion and implementation of a ceasefire, particularly one based on a proposal by the Quad. They did not spell out that proposal’s terms or announce an agreement.

What the Sudan co-chairs proposed for ceasefire talks

The co-chairs urged the warring parties to return to negotiations aimed at a permanent ceasefire. Their language was an appeal to the parties and an offer of support, rather than a report of a negotiated breakthrough. The statement gave no date for renewed talks and did not say whether either party would participate.

They also condemned military involvement by foreign state and non-state actors and urged them to stop fueling the conflict through military equipment or financial support. The co-chairs called for stronger UN measures to prevent arms from reaching the conflict and for more capacity for the UN Panel of Experts to monitor the issue. The statement did not identify a new measure adopted at the meeting.

How a Sudanese-led political dialogue would work

The co-chairs said Sudanese people should decide their country’s future governance through an inclusive, credible and transparent process. They called for voices from inside and outside Sudan to be represented and said armed actors or outside parties should not impede the dialogue. The statement reaffirmed support for the Quintet’s facilitation efforts and for the UN Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy to work with it on relaunching political dialogue.

The statement distinguishes a ceasefire from a complete political settlement. It says a lasting settlement would need to address long-standing disputes over the relationship between Sudan’s centre and regions, the allocation of powers, governance and constitutional arrangements, and fiscal arrangements in a federal system. Those are issues the co-chairs said a process must confront, not terms they said Sudanese participants had agreed.

The co-chairs placed the meeting in a series of Sudan conferences held in Paris in April 2024, London in April 2025 and Berlin in April 2026. They welcomed Quintet consultations in Berlin, Addis Ababa and Khartoum. The 30 September statement, however, provided no confirmed start date, participant list or outcome for the proposed civilian dialogue.

Why humanitarian access and funding are pressing

The co-chairs estimated that 33 million people in Sudan need assistance and that 20 million face acute food insecurity. They called for more international humanitarian funding and for pledges made at the Berlin conference to be implemented swiftly. The statement announced no new funding amount or completed disbursement, leaving the effect of that appeal on aid operations unknown.

In remarks published by the World Food Programme on 14 September after a visit to Sudan, its acting executive director, Carl Skau, also put the number facing acute hunger at 20 million. He said 14 million people were displaced, about five million faced emergency levels of hunger and 200,000 were at the most severe level. Those figures describe the scale of need before the ministers’ statement, not a change resulting from it.

Skau described the practical obstacle behind the call for cross-line access. He said a journey from El Obeid to El Fasher that had taken about six hours by car before the war took him three days, including multiple flights and a long road journey, because fighting prevented travel directly across the lines. WFP was reaching between four million and five million people each month, he said, including two million to 2.5 million in hard-to-reach areas. He warned that underfunding could force significant cuts within weeks.

The funding pressure extends beyond food assistance. Al Jazeera and Reuters reported on 14 September that the International Organization for Migration warned supplies in its Common Humanitarian Pipeline could run out by the end of that month without immediate support. The report said the network, made up of nearly 100 national and international NGOs, had helped 2.8 million people since July 2023. It attributed to IOM estimates of $15 million to keep the pipeline running for a year for 305,000 people and $42 million to restore its 2024 level of aid. Those were estimates of need, not pledges from the New York meeting.

What remains unresolved after the New York meeting

The co-chairs’ next stated aim is renewed ceasefire negotiations alongside a civilian, Sudanese-led political process. Their statement does not establish whether the warring parties will return to talks, when a dialogue will begin or who will take part. Nor does it show that aid routes have opened or that funding has reached relief agencies. Those outcomes remain the practical tests of the commitments expressed in New York.