Observers and political activists attribute the failure of all these attempts and efforts to the multiplicity of platforms and the unwillingness of some parties to reach peace, in addition to the pressure exerted by the group. Brotherhood Refusing to stop the war that has killed tens of thousands, displaced more than 12 million, and caused massive destruction to the country’s economy, infrastructure, and society.
Multiple initiatives
Jeddah pulpit
- It was launched on May 6, 2023, less than a month after fighting broke out between the army and the Rapid Support Forces in mid-April 2023.
- The negotiations were coordinated between Kingdom of Saudi Arabia And the United States of America.
- Jeddah Forum held three rounds, the last of which was in December 2023.
- There are efforts to push the two parties to return to the podium, as Saudi Arabia delivered a message in this regard to the army commander. Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan.
Manama negotiations
- Between November 2023 and January 2024, negotiations took place between representatives of the army andRapid support In the Bahraini capital, Manama, under the auspices of the United States of America, and surrounded by complete secrecy, before it was revealed by the US State Department in February 2024.
African attempts
The African Union and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) made six attempts, the first in May 2023, just weeks after the fighting broke out.
The second was on June 12, 2023, when the heads of member states of theIGADAn extraordinary summit in the Djibouti capital, followed by an invitation extended by the African Quartet Committee to the two warring parties to meet in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. The meeting was held on July 10, 2023, but the army delegation boycotted the meeting in protest against Kenya’s chairmanship of the Quartet Committee.
On December 9, 2023, IGAD held a second extraordinary summit in Djibouti.
About a month after the summit, the AU formed a high-level mechanism comprising Mohamed Chambas, the AU High Representative for Silencing the Guns, Simbiosa Wandira, the former Vice President of Uganda, and Francisco Wandira, the former AU Special Representative for Somalia. The committee was tasked with working with all parties to restore peace through African plan.
On January 20, 2024, IGAD held a third summit in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, and set two weeks for a direct meeting between the army and Rapid Support Forces leaders to end the war, but Sudan announced the suspension of its membership in the organization hours after the summit.
The latest attempt in a series of regional and international initiatives was represented in the conference hosted by the Egyptian capital, Cairo, on July 6 and 7, 2024, under the slogan “Together to Stop the War,” with the participation of the Civil Forces Coordination Committee “Progress” headed by former Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok, who rejects the war, and representatives of a number of entities that make up the Democratic Bloc group that supports the war, some of whose components are participating with forces fighting alongside the army.
Decisions without implementation
5 days after the start of the first round of negotiations Jeddah pulpit The two sides signed a ceasefire agreement but it quickly collapsed within hours.
The most prominent points of the agreements reached at the Jeddah Forum, which the two parties have not yet committed to implementing, included:
- Commitment to allow humanitarian aid to pass and restore basic services.
- Withdrawal of forces from hospitals and clinics, and allowing the dead to be buried with respect.
- Arrest of former regime elements who escaped from prisons after the outbreak of fighting.
During the Manama negotiations, the two parties reached a preliminary agreement of 21 items that was signed by the heads of the negotiating delegations. The most important items included:
- Cease hostilities and keep each party’s forces in their positions, as proposed by international experts.
- Building and establishing a professional and national army from all forces (army, Rapid support…armed movements), and to keep the armed forces away from adopting any ideology or party affiliation.
- Dismantling the empowerment of the Brotherhood regime that ruled the country from the 1989 coup until its fall in April 2019.
- Arresting fugitives from prisons and handing over wanted persons.
During the six attempts it made, the African Union announced its adoption of a 6-point plan to resolve the crisis, including:
- Permanent ceasefire.
- Transforming Khartoum into a demilitarized capital.
- Withdrawing the forces of both sides of the fighting to assembly centers 50 kilometers away from the cities.
- Deploying African forces to guard strategic institutions; in addition to addressing the humanitarian crisis and starting a political process to resolve the crisis once and for all.
The Djibouti summit announced in its final statement that Burhan and the commander of the Rapid Support Forces, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, agreed to meet face to face to discuss the proposal for a permanent ceasefire without preconditions and to resolve the conflict through political dialogue, but the meeting has not yet been held. While Hemeti agreed to it, he rejected it. the proof Sudan announced the suspension of its membership in the organization.
Reasons for failure
Observers and political actors point to four main reasons for the failure of international and regional efforts that have taken place so far.
They summarize these reasons as follows:
- The lack of seriousness of the two warring parties in reaching peace.
- Multiple platforms.
- The absence of effective mechanisms to force both parties to implement what is agreed upon.
- In addition to the prevailing belief in the influence of the Brotherhood elements within the army, which is what Al-Hadi Idris, a former member of the Sovereignty Council and head of the Revolutionary Front, explained to the “Sky News Arabia” website, saying, “No initiative will succeed as long as the army does not sever ties with… Brotherhood organization“
For his part, Sharif Muhammad Osman, the political secretary of the Sudanese Congress Party and a leader in the Sudanese Civil Forces Coordination Committee (Taqaddom), believes that the failure is due to two reasons: the first is the lack of seriousness and desire to reach peace, in addition to the multiplicity of platforms.
Othman explains to Sky News Arabia the flood of initiatives that have taken place since the outbreak of the war, seeking to stop it, but experience has confirmed the lack of seriousness in dealing with those initiatives and ending the war.
Osman holds the army most responsible for the failure of these initiatives, and explains, “The army leaders kept making many excuses not to return to war and talking about a military solution that has proven to be a failure as it is still out of reach and the Sudanese are still bearing the consequences of the war in terms of killing, displacement and hunger.”
Osman adds to these reasons the issue of multiple platforms, saying, “The multiple platforms are not in the interest of the process of ending the war, so we called early on for the unification of international and regional efforts and the inclusion of representatives of the African Union andIGAD And neighboring countries at the Jeddah Forum with the aim of increasing the number of actors and influencers.