The International Crisis Group published on 17 April 2026 a statement titled "Latest Sudan Conference Shows Diplomacy Is Backsliding" by Comfort Ero and Alan Boswell.
Officials who gathered in Berlin on 15 April pledged 1.5 billion Euros for humanitarian aid to Sudan but failed to agree on a joint communique. Blame for the inability to agree on a common approach to achieve a cease fire resulted because of differences in the US-led Quad, which includes Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Egypt.
Negotiations foundered over Saudi Arabia's insistence on language stressing the need to preserve "state institutions", which would include Sudan's army, and the UAE's opposition to it. The intra-Quad discord highlights the challenges facing US-led efforts to secure a truce, which are backsliding amid deteriorating relations between Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
