The Republic of Sudan seems to be Washington's way in to having an effect on Africa, as Russia and China strengthen their role in the region, an expert from Lebanon has told Sputnik.
On Monday, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announced that the parties to the armed conflict in Sudan had agreed to a nationwide ceasefire, starting at midnight and lasting 72 hours.
"The United States is suffering from a real crisis in the issue of hegemony and control over the World – especially in the Middle East and West Asia - and its military, economic, political and colonial influence is declining, especially after leaving Afghanistan, reducing operations in Iraq and Syria and losses in Lebanon, Palestine and Yemen," Ali Beydoun, a Lebanese expert on international relations and political science, said.
Beydoun reckons that Washington is trying to "open a new arena of conflict in Africa to compensate for losses and confront Russia and China by creating conflicts and crises that will justify its presence and intervention".
"[The US] is choosing Sudan because it serves as the key to entering deep into Africa and to huge mines with natural resources," Beydoun said, expressing the opinion that the US administration "is trying to invest in the Sudanese crisis from the humanitarian side".
Mohammad Tai, a professor of international law at the Lebanese University, emphasizes that in view of Russia's and China's increasing role in Africa, the US "decided to resort to its agents and accomplices to foment wars and attempt to intervene under the pretext of mediation between the parties in Sudan".
"The United States has military capabilities in many areas close to the border of Sudan, and is ready to use the opportunity to impose its influence," the expert said.
Fighting has been going on in Sudan since 15 April between the Rapid Reaction Forces under the command of Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo and the regular army. The opposing forces in Sudan are exchanging contradictory statements about successes in combat operations and control over facilities, having launched a large-scale information war in the media and social networks.
According to the North African country’s Ministry of Health, the death toll from the armed clashes in the country has risen to 600. The World Health Organization's representative in Sudan, Dr Nima Saeed Abid, said at a weekly UN briefing in Geneva on Tuesday that at least 459 people have been killed and 4,072 others have been injured during the conflict.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, speaking at a meeting of the UN Security Council (UNSC), called on the parties in Sudan to cease hostilities immediately. Volker Perthes, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the organization for Sudan, said that there are no signs that either party to the conflict is ready to talk yet.