(MENAFN) US Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to prioritize a “humanitarian ceasefire” in Sudan during a phone conversation on Friday with Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, according to a State Department briefing.

Rubio “emphasized the importance of achieving a humanitarian ceasefire in Sudan,” the State Department noted in its statement.

During the call, Rubio and Al Nahyan also reviewed efforts to implement President Donald Trump’s 20-point Gaza ceasefire initiative and reaffirmed the “strategic relationship” between the US and the UAE, the statement added.

Earlier this week, speaking to journalists after a G7 summit in Canada, Rubio highlighted the urgent need to stop weapons supplies to Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), citing the rapidly worsening humanitarian conditions for civilians in the country.

Sudan’s Foreign Minister, Mohieldin Salem, welcomed Rubio’s remarks and called on the international community to intervene as the RSF continues to besiege multiple cities across Sudan.

However, El-Basha Tibeig, an adviser to RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, described the statements as “an unfortunate step,” arguing that they undermine the efforts of a US-led group of four countries, known as the Quad—including the UAE, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia—to achieve a humanitarian truce in Sudan.

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