Washington DC - President Donald Trump said Wednesday he would start "working" on the war in Sudan, after visiting Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman asked him to help end the conflict.

Since its outbreak in April 2023, the war between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced nearly 12 million.

"His majesty would like me to do something very powerful having to do with Sudan," Trump said at a Saudi-US business forum.

"It was not on my charts to be involved in, I thought it was just something that was crazy and out of control," he added.

"But I just see how important that is to you, and to a lot of your friends in the room, Sudan. And we're going to start working on Sudan."

Washington has urged the warring parties to finalize a truce, while Trump's own Africa envoy, Massad Boulo,s on Saturday told AFP the war in Sudan was "the world's biggest humanitarian crisis."

But Trump himself has barely commented on it, focusing instead on the wars in Gaza and Ukraine in his pursuit of a Nobel Peace Prize.

Trump repeatedly claims to have solved eight conflicts since returning to office in January.

His promise to start working on the conflict reflects his close relationship with the de facto Saudi leader, whom he hosted at the White House for a lavish visit on Tuesday.

During their meeting in the Oval Office, the US president defended the Saudi royal over the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, saying the prince "knew nothing".