Sudanese Prime Minister Kamil Idris on Monday presented a proposal before the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), seeking to end the country’s nearly three-year war that has created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with some 14 million people displaced.

The North African nation descended into civil war in April 2023 after a power struggle broke out between Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo.

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The recent massacres in Sudan’s Darfur region have drawn global attention to the conflict, with rights groups calling on rival sides to engage in dialogue to end the bloodshed.

What is Idris’s peace plan for Sudan?

Idris, the prime minister of the transitional government, proposed an immediate ceasefire in Sudan, monitored by the UN, the African Union and the League of Arab States.

He proposed a complete RSF troops withdrawal from the territory it controls.

The RSF and its allies control roughly 40 percent of Sudan, analyst Jihad Mashamoun told Anadolu news agency in November. This includes most of the Darfur and Kordofan regions.

In October, the RSF seized control of el-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, killing more than 1,500 people. It also controls key infrastructure such as the Heglig oilfield near the South Sudan border, seized on December 8.

The remaining 60 percent, including the capital, Khartoum, is controlled by the SAF. It maintains control over eastern Sudan, including Port Sudan along the Red Sea, its de facto administrative capital, northern states, and parts of central Sudan. It also retains air power. On Monday, the Sudanese army said it had recaptured a town southwest of the city of al-Rahad in North Kordofan state.

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Idris, appointed by the army in May, proposed that the RSF members, after their withdrawal, would be placed in camps and vetted. He said the plan would reintegrate RSF fighters not accused of war crimes into society.

He promised to hold free elections after a transitional period aimed at fostering “inter-Sudanese dialogue”.

“This is not about winning a war,” he said, “but about ending a cycle of violence that has plagued Sudan for decades.”

The UNSC has not voted on the proposal yet, and discussions are still under way.

How did the RSF react to the peace plan?

Al-Basha Tibiq, adviser to Hemedti, announced that the RSF has rejected Idris’s plan.

In a statement posted on Facebook, Tibiq was quoted as saying the plan was “nothing more than a recycling of outdated exclusionary rhetoric” that was indistinguishable from the position taken by the military chief, al-Burhan.

Tibiq said the idea that the RSF would have to withdraw from the territory it controls is “closer to fantasy than to politics”.

Regional mediators, along with the United States, have been pushing for a different plan, which al-Burhan had earlier rejected, arguing that the United Arab Emirates’ participation made it biased in favour of the paramilitaries and against the army.

Sudan’s transitional government accuses the UAE of arming the RSF.

The Quad group, comprising the US, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the UAE, has been working to mediate between the SAF and the RSF.

The UAE has consistently denied allegations of arming and financing the RSF, and in March condemned Sudan’s decision to bring a case against it at the International Court of Justice, describing the accusations as a “cynical publicity stunt”.

Where does the Quad stand on this?

The Quad backs its own truce proposal, and US Ambassador to the UN Jeffrey Bartos on Monday urged the RSF and the SAF to accept an alternative plan for a humanitarian truce.

“We urge both belligerents to accept this plan without preconditions immediately,” Bartos said, addressing the UNSC before Idris spoke.

In September, the Quad issued a statement urging an immediate three-month truce as a step towards a permanent ceasefire, improved humanitarian access, and the launch of a political process for a civilian-led transition.

The RSF announced in early November that it accepted the Quad’s truce proposal, but the fighting has persisted.

Idris told the UNSC on Monday that his peace proposal was “homemade”, rather than “imposed on us”, an implicit reference to the truce plans backed by the Quad.

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What do experts say about the peace plan?

Al-Rashid Muhammad Ibrahim, who leads the Centre for International Political Relations Studies in Khartoum, noted that the novelty in the message lies in its clear vision and its reframing of the conflict in Sudan as an act of aggression.

Political analyst Faisal Abdel Karim said that for any initiative to succeed, it must be accepted by the opposing side, which in this case is the RSF. He added that the plan also needs to gain the support of the international and regional powers that influence the Sudanese landscape.

He said parts of the plan are reasonable, but others are not.

Political analyst Al-Wathiq Kameir told Al Jazeera that Idris presented the peace plan during a briefing session requested by Sudan, in the absence of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

“It becomes questionable when the prime minister of a war-torn country travels thousands of kilometres to address a hall dominated by heads of missions or their deputies, at a time that is politically dead because of the Christmas and end-of-year holidays,” Kameir said.

What are other reactions to the peace plan?

Ahmed Aboul Gheit, the secretary-general of the 22-member Arab League, praised the peace plan on Wednesday.

In a statement released by the league, Gheit commended the plan’s “highly important political, humanitarian, and security messages” and called for “positive engagement” with the proposal.

What is happening in Sudan?

Fighting between the RSF and the army has intensified in the past several weeks after the paramilitary forces escalated attacks around el-Fasher.

The escalation around el-Fasher started in October, when the region was captured by the RSF after an 18-month siege, which cut residents off from food, medicine and other critical supplies. The group was accused of committing mass killings, kidnappings and widespread acts of sexual violence in its takeover of the city.

Despite the peace plan, fighting has continued. The RSF claimed that it had regained control of the town of Alouba, a strategic town in the Kordofan region, where thousands are currently fleeing violence.

On the other hand, the SAF said it had destroyed an RSF convoy in North Darfur state.

On Wednesday, Sudanese officials reported that 1,700 people had fled to White Nile state, east of Kordofan, with many heading to the city of Kosti.

Al Jazeera’s Mohamed Vall reported from Kosti that the city is stretched thin when it comes to resources, as it is already hosting about two million refugees and displaced people.

“There is a lack of … basic facilities for these people, and the authorities are calling on the international community and any organisations, local or foreign, to come to help with this situation, particularly [given] huge cuts in funding for the United Nations organisations specialised in [providing] aid in Sudan,” Vall said.

In 2021, the RSF and the SAF jointly toppled Sudan’s civilian government, but tensions over RSF integration and control of the transition erupted into a power struggle between al-Burhan and Hemedti.

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The war has forced 14 million people to flee their homes to find shelter and safety away from the heavy fighting that has killed tens of thousands.

About 21 million people across the country are facing acute hunger, in what the UN calls the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.