Civilians who fled the war-torn Sudan following the outbreak of fighting between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) camp at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) transit centre in Renk, Upper Nile State, South Sudan, on May 1, 2023.
Sudan’s war, pitting the armed forces against the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has been churning out horrid statistics. Officially, 20,000 people have been killed, 12 million displaced, 2.5 million rendered refugees, and millions of children now stunted due to malnutrition.
Yet the conflict and its pain hasn’t been felt beyond Sudan. The international community has played political games, where interests come first.
This week, two things happened: Russia vetoed a resolution that would have compelled the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and RSF into a ceasefire for the first time since the war began in April 2023. And in Nairobi, RSF staged a rare press conference, using the podium to deny accusations of atrocities including ethnic cleansing, rape and murder.
They spoke on the day the UN Security Council met in New York to discuss a draft resolution on Sudan, as rights watchdogs called for a UN peacekeeping mission to protect civilians.
Vetoing the resolution, Moscow said Sudan’s sovereignty was being ignored, and argued the draft resolution proposed by the UK and Sierra Leone was “an attempt to give themselves an opportunity to meddle” in Sudan’s affairs. The vote was backed by 14 members of the Council, but the veto meant it could not be adopted.
Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia's representative at the UN, said the resolution would have poured fuel on the crisis “leaving muddy waters for Western countries, that they love so much in former colonies, to push for their agenda.”
David Lammy, the UK Foreign Minister saw the veto as a disgrace.
“How many more Sudanese have to be killed, how many more women have to be raped, how many more children have to go without food before Russia will act?" he posed.
Sudan’s war has been such that international parties do not see the humanitarian situation first, but political points to score.
In Kenya, the Big-Gen Omar Hamdam Ahmed, the delegation leader, was allowed space at the press conference to argue that his side had been frustrated in its efforts to end the war. He accused the junta led by Lt-Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan of undermining peace efforts.
“We have embraced and attended all initiatives such as the Jeddah and Geneva talks but SAF has always found ways to abscond these talks and are not interested in returning the country to civilian rule,” said Ahmed at the Panafric Hotel in Nairobi.
Gen Burhan would later respond in cryptic fashion, warning that the future relations of Sudan and other countries would depend on how the war ends. Some analysts saw that as a warning to those entertaining RSF, which SAF has tagged a rebel militia.
SAF and RSF have been fighting since April 15, 2023.
The press conference in Nairobi represented an uncertainty around the search for peace, indicating that the paramilitary group has backers beyond Sudan.
In the recent past, Burhan accused the United Arab Emirates and other unnamed countries of siding with RSF to perpetrate war.
“A war is being waged by a group of rebels receiving political and logistical support at the local and regional level,” Burhan told an audience at the UN General Assembly in September in New York.
“You’ve all witnessed the crimes, violations and atrocities committed by these rebels targeting the Sudanese people and the Sudanese State,” he added, saying the RSF were engaging in “devastating aggression.”
Burhan has received international arenas to speak as the head of state of Sudan, even though the RSF sarcastically also gave speeches virtually to mimic Sudan’s government.
In addition, Burhan has received state invitations to Moscow and Beijing, where he held talks with the leaders.
Gen Ahmed said that since May 2023, RSF has cooperated with all the initiatives, such as Jeddah and Geneva, but their opponents are not serious and are bent on keeping power.
Burhan skipped the last talks, citing uninvited guests to the meeting -- the UAE.
The RF claimed they had not received support from the UAE, saying: “We don't get any assistance from any country whatever.” That claim has been bastardised by evidence collected by a UN panel of experts on Sudan, as well as independent researchers.
The RSF admitted that there have been some human rights violations in Al-Gezira state, south of Khartoum, where violence has raged recently. But the group claims the perpetrators were impersonators led by Abu Agla Keikel, a commander who defected to SAF in October.
For Nairobi, the presence of RSF could raise a diplomatic spat with Burhan. But it is not the only country in the region to be accused of offering support -- indirectly -- to RSF.
Uganda too, has had to fight off similar claims.
Nairobi didn’t speak immediately at the press conference, but President William Ruto has in the past called for dialogue with all stakeholders to ensure an end to the war.
And he got flak from Burhan for that. Earlier this year, Burhan suspended cooperation with regional bloc Intergovernmental Authority on Development (Igad) after it appeared to invite RSF.
Burhan had earlier refused mediation roles for Ruto under Igad, although he visited Nairobi after which they agreed to continue pursuit of peaceful means, a dispatch indicated at the time in November last year.
Gen Ezzadin Elsaf Risi, a member of RSF high command, defended President Ruto, saying that he has been trying hard to get Burhan and RSF leader, Hamdan Daglo, to meet face-to-face and agree on a ceasefire, with no success.
In fact, Ruto earlier this year launched a third track of talks, targeting civilian movements with relative influence on the warring factions to seek peace. It didn’t succeed.
This strategy has been one also used by the United States. On November 10, US Special Envoy for Sudan, Tom Perriello, met with some civilian groups in Cairo, seeing them as useful pushers.
“I have found reasons for hope about solving the crisis in Sudan from the last two days of meetings with Sudanese in Cairo, including Sufi leaders, various political coalitions, youth leaders focused on transitional justice, and humanitarian experts hoping to get food and medicine to all 18 states of Sudan,” he said.
Perriello met with Burhan and the Sudanese Foreign Minister Ali Youssef in Port Sudan in what Sudan said were “long, comprehensive and frank” talks on Monday.
The meeting was criticised by observers as belated and a public relations exercise. Sudanese Fayez Al Sheikh Al Salik said the visit accomplished nothing of significance because the situation in Sudan is a lot more complicated than to be solved with one round of diplomatic meetings.
At the UN Security Council, the draft resolution had demanded that the Sudanese combatants honour and fully implement their commitments made in the Jeddah Declaration of Commitment to Protect the Civilians of Sudan, including taking all feasible precautions to avoid and minimise civilian harm, refrain from using civilians as human shields and safeguard the needs and necessities indispensable to their survival.
The draft resolution, prepared by Sierra Leone and the UK, and circulated to other members of the Council condemns the “ethnically motivated killings, sexual and gender-based violence…and destruction and looting of livelihoods and homes by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
It called on member states to refrain from interfering with the war and fully respect an arms embargo on Darfur, besides calling on warring factions to agree to a ceasefire.
Following the veto, Amnesty International said it is deeply disappointed that politics has stood in the way of civilian protection with the UN Security Council failing to fulfil its mandate.
“All countries fuelling the conflict must immediately cease direct and indirect supplies of arms and ammunition to both sides and respect and enforce the UNSC’s embargo on Darfur. The UNSC must also prioritize civilian protection by expanding the existing arms embargo to the rest of Sudan,” said the statement.
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