US President Donald Trump is seeking to end conflicts in Ukraine and Sudan. This is part of his global strategy to bring peace to many areas of the world. He was able to secure the Gaza ceasefire in early October, which has now brought home 46 hostages, while two deceased hostages remain in Gaza.
Trump has also focused throughout the year on ending other conflicts, from tensions between India and Pakistan to conflicts in the Congo and Thailand-Cambodia clashes.
Securing peace in Sudan would be a major achievement. However, both conflicts will be hard to resolve. Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, expanding on an invasion it began in 2014. In Sudan, a civil war has been waging for years that pits the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) against the army. Each side is backed by foreign powers.
The challenge for Trump is that these are entrenched conflicts with a lot of bad blood. This means that Ukraine doesn’t want to give up territories in the east to Russia, while in Sudan, the RSF has been accused of massacres.
It is not likely to give up ground willingly, and the army doesn’t want to cede part of the country, even though it has been unable to stop the advance of the RSF in some places.
Arab News reported on November 26 that “Trump’s Africa envoy Massad Boulos said on Tuesday that neither warring side in Sudan had accepted the latest ceasefire proposal, urging both to agree to the truce presented by Washington on behalf of mediators without preconditions.”
Boulos said, “We appeal to both sides to accept the humanitarian truce as presented without preconditions.” He was speaking from Abu Dhabi.
The UAE is believed to have a key role in Sudan. However, critics also accuse the UAE of backing the RSF. Abu Dhabi believes these critics are exploiting the war there to portray the UAE negatively.
This means that the stakes are high. The UAE is a friend of the US and a member of the Abraham Accords. It has visionary leadership and wants to show that it can help bring peace.
Arab News noted that Boulos said, “The United States presented the warring Sudanese army and paramilitary RSF with a strong text for a peace plan, but neither side has accepted it.”
It added that “Trump said last week he would intervene to stop the devastating conflict, which broke out in April 2023 and has spread famine and ethnic killings across the country and threatened a split, the second in its history.”
The US is potentially working with familiar partners now in Sudan, as well as with Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. These countries also played a role in the Gaza ceasefire. Egypt is seen as more sympathetic toward the army in Sudan.
As such, these countries don’t always agree, even though they are generally on the same side on many issues in the region.
Al Ain media noted that the UAE is asserting that others are obstructing the peace process, including Sudanese army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, “who has rejected all efforts aimed at achieving peace, most recently the American peace plan.”
On Sunday, Burhan stated that what was presented through Boulos was “the worst proposal ever submitted,” Al Ain reported. “Following Sudanese army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan’s rejection of an international ceasefire proposal, the Sudanese Rapid Support Forces announced a unilateral three-month humanitarian truce on Monday.”
Meanwhile, Ukraine presents an immense challenge. Familiar faces from the Gaza deal are also involved in the Ukraine potential deal. Envoy Steve Witkoff is one of those involved. Trump has said that any criticism of Witkoff is incorrect and that he has been doing "what a dealmaker does.”
A 28-point draft peace plan has been created. Some say it is too easy on Russia. “Witkoff has visited Moscow several times this year and will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin again next week,” the BBC noted. Trump believes there has been “tremendous progress” made in ending the war.
CNN noted that “earlier, his top diplomat, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, also struck a relentlessly upbeat tone after ‘very positive’ Ukraine talks in Geneva at the weekend. The ‘items that remain are not insurmountable,’ he insisted.”
Trump’s doctrine has included personal diplomacy in the past
US officials also met Russian officials in Abu Dhabi, the same place where the US has been discussing Sudan. As such, all these issues are linked via the US network of friends and allies. This is the kind of complex diplomacy that the US is now able to engage in, linking many conflicts and powers. It builds on Henry Kissinger’s notion of “triangular diplomacy” during the Vietnam War.
Trump’s doctrine in the past has included personal and transactional diplomacy. Now, as he navigates the second term, the doctrine is bringing together more envoys and conflicts in discussions with US partners. It remains to be seen if the administration can secure deals in Ukraine and Sudan before the end of the year.
The potential deals also mean that the administration would not be pleased with a breakdown in the Gaza ceasefire. It wants peace to continue and the US-backed CMCC to continue work in Gaza. The administration is now focused elsewhere, but any tensions would cause Washington a headache.
This comes amid messaging that Israel is concerned about the ceasefire progress, and as reports say that a meeting in Egypt had been postponed.