After a flurry of diplomatic activities, the warring parties seem far from engaging in any meaningful negotiations.
There have been 100 days of fighting in Sudan and the conflict has wrought a devastating human toll, reigniting ethnic violence and sparking fears it could destabilise the wider region.
On April 15, a rivalry between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) exploded into war, turning Khartoum and wider areas of the capital into a bloody battlefield. Since then, fighting has also spread to the conflict-weary Darfur region as well as parts of Kordofan and Blue Nile states.
Sudan rejects African peace bid and ‘enemy’ peacekeeping force
How to donate to the Sudan refugee response
Analysis: The war in Sudan is a problem for Egypt
A flurry of diplomatic initiatives to halt the war has failed to yield any concrete results as the rival sides are locked in a battle for survival – one that both think they can win outright without having to engage in meaningful negotiations, analysts say.
What initiatives have been tried so far?
In May, the two warring sides agreed to send negotiating teams to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to start talks brokered by Riyadh and Washington. At least 16 ceasefire agreements followed – each of them has collapsed.
Negotiations were suspended a month later after the army withdrew its participation accusing the RSF of a lack of commitment.
Reports suggest that talks may resume as the army delegation returned to the Saudi city on July 15, but no official statement has been made so far.
As the Jeddah talks failed and fighting continued, the African Union (AU) unveiled its own plan.
It included the start of a political dialogue among the country’s military, civilian and social actors not just to resolve the ongoing conflict, but also to set up constitutional arrangements for a period of transition and the formation of a civilian government.
Unlike the Jeddah talks, the AU summit was attended by members of a civilian coalition that shared power with the military before General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as “Hemedti”, orchestrated a coup in 2021 ending the country’s fragile transition towards democracy.
But besides convening three times – the last meeting was on June 1 – and issuing broad statements, the summit has not delivered any meaningful results yet.
Then came the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) negotiating attempt.
The regional body, composed of eight countries around the Horn of Africa, set up a quartet committee – including Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti and South Sudan – to address the Sudanese crisis. But an IGAD meeting on July 10 was boycotted by the army’s delegation, which accused the quartet’s lead sponsor Kenya of lacking impartiality.
Instead, the Sudanese army welcomed a summit held in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, on July 13, chaired by President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, with whom Sudan’s top general al-Burhan enjoys long-lasting ties. The meeting was attended by leaders of Sudan’s seven neighbouring countries along with the secretary-general of the Arab League and the African Union Commission (AUC) chairperson.
The Egyptian president outlined an initiative to establish a lasting ceasefire, set up humanitarian corridors for humanitarian assistance and build a dialogue framework that would include all Sudanese political parties.
Participants in the roundtable agreed to form a ministerial mechanism composed of the foreign ministers of the seven states to resolve the ongoing conflict. The plan was praised by the military and the RSF.
The summit in Cairo, Egypt was attended by leaders of Sudan’s seven neighbouring countries along with the secretary-general of the Arab League and the African Union Commission chairperson [File: Egyptian Presidency via AFP]
source:ALJAZEERA NEWS
