NAIROBI, Kenya, May 31 — President William Ruto has sounded the alarm over the deteriorating situation in Sudan, saying the ongoing war was “heading towards carnage” because the country’s two rival generals have “no regard for human life.”Speaking on Saturday during a joint press briefing with Slovenian President Nataša Pirc Musar at State House Nairobi, President Ruto said the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Sudan has reached catastrophic levels, demanding urgent regional and international intervention.“There are two generals who have no regard for human life. The war in Sudan is heading towards carnage—it is already a human catastrophe,” Ruto stated, referring to the leader of Sudan’s ruling junta, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who ousted the nation’s longtime leader Omar al-Bashir in 2019, and his archrival, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo ‘Hemetti’.“All levers need to be pulled, regionally and globally, to stop the suffering and the tragedy unfolding in Sudan.”His comments come following months of sustained pressure that saw the United States impose sanctions on General Hemetti, leader of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), for what Secretary of State Antony Blinken called genocide against non-Arab communities. Washington accused Hemetti’s forces of systematic ethnic killings and sexual violence, particularly in Darfur.The US faulted Hemetti, who deputized Sudan’s interim leader under the Transitional Sovereign Council before a fallout in April 2023, for killing tens of thousands in a conflict that has seen over 12 million Sudanese displaced.“The RSF and allied militias have systematically murdered men and boys — even infants — on an ethnic basis, and deliberately targeted women and girls from certain ethnic groups for rape and other forms of brutal sexual violence,” Blinken said in January.Peace initiatives Kenya has been actively engaged in mediation efforts through the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), although the initiative has faced pushback from Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) leader General al-Burhan, who earlier rejected Nairobi’s role over alleged bias. Despite tensions, President Ruto has held separate meetings with both generals and other Sudanese stakeholders to keep peace talks, including the Saudi-US led Jeddah Process, on track.SAF, under General al-Burhan, President of the Transitional Sovereignty Council of Sudan, had stonewalled a Nairobi-led initiative under an IGAD quartet comprising Ethiopia, Djibouti and South Sudan over alleged bias.General al-Burhan took offense with President William Ruto’s characterization of the conflict as “fighting between two generals”.“Sudan is not concerned with the outcome of the meeting, because it is still waiting for a response from the IGAD regarding Sudan’s objection to Kenya’s chairmanship of the quartet committee,” Sudan’s MFA said in June 2024.Ruto subsequently met General al-Burhan in Nairobi on November 11, 2024, before meeting Abdalla Hamdok, Prime Minister of a civilian authority replaced by General al-Burhan, on November 14.Ruto would later host Sudan Liberation Movement Abdulwahid Al- Nur in Nairobi on January 23.President Ruto also met Hemetti on November 24 when he reportedly secured RSF’s commitment to IGAD-supported Jeddah peace talks.