Is there sufficient international pressure to force Sudan's factions to end the war?

Urgency around the divisions in Sudan has ebbed and surged for decades across the US and Europe. It is now re-emerging. Driven by the atrocities in El Fasher last month, the country’s civil war is now firmly at the forefront of international concern.

Battles between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces – which hold the key to the country’s fate – are being followed closely, from the White House to the European Parliament and foreign ministries around the world.

The most significant element is a consensus around the demands for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire issued by the Quad mediators, which include the US plus Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. El Fasher fell after 500 days of fighting, and its loss means that the Sudanese army no longer holds a stronghold in the country’s west.

If we can call this a new phase, then I think there are four important tests for how it plays out.

The first question mark for the heightened interest in Sudan is a proper recognition of the Arab political traditions that will be key to a long-term resolution of the conflict. As the composition of the Quad shows, there is a close cultural and diplomatic sympathy between Sudan’s national political make-up and the rest of the Arab world. After all, post-colonial Sudan joined the Arab League in 1956.

Yet many ministries – including the British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office – put their Sudan diplomats into the Africa section of their structures. This creates false walls between the delegations and interests of the Sudanese as well as the Middle East and North Africa teams in ways that inhibits responsive diplomacy. I experienced this myself just last week when a senior British figure dealing with the region conceded that it takes a day or two for developments to filter through these administratively separate channels.

Dr Anwar Gargash welcomes Trump's pledge to end Sudan war 01:07

The second test lies around the wider approach to Sudan by western leaders. There is a folk memory of the long series of events that led to the independence of South Sudan in 2011. For decades, that declaration had been a cause celebre in countries like the UK and the US. No serious public debate questions that outcome now, but the fact that Sudan’s humanitarian concerns are being decided internationally sets some precedent for what happens now.

UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper has sought to bring some wider themes within the Sudan conflict