The months of fighting have left bodies strewn in its streets, destroyed densely populated neighborhoods, damaged a crucial bridge over the Nile River and gutted the skyline, including a prominent oil company headquarters and the justice ministry.

“I think this is what people have not realized, that this is not business as usual, you’re not going to be delivering assistance as you did it before, or, fundamentally, the country is being broken,” said Bashair Ahmed, the CEO of Shabaka, a UK-based research organization that, after the start of the conflict, founded the Sudan Crisis Coordination Unit to act as a clearinghouse for information about the situation on the ground.

Washington has sanctioned RSF commanders and former Bashir officials for their role in the conflict, and the US vice-president Kamala Harris recently discussed the war with United Arab Emirates president Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan.

Cameron Hudson, who served as chief of staff to several former envoys and is now a senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said such an appointee could articulate the administration’s response to the crisis, rally US allies and fill the void created when the American embassy in Khartoum evacuated after the fighting began.

Last week, the top Democratic and Republican lawmakers on the House and Senate committees handling foreign affairs proposed resolutions calling on the Biden administration to appoint a special envoy to Sudan, sanction the warring parties and investigate atrocities.

“Despite global focus on crises in Europe and the Middle East, the dire situation in Sudan – characterized by extreme suffering, widespread destruction, and horrendous crimes – must not be overlooked,” said Jim Risch, the top Republican on the Senate foreign relations committee.

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