Representatives of Sudan's Transitional Sovereign Council announced on Sunday that they have chosen to abandon the Thabo Mbeki Foundation's first African Peace and Security Dialogue held in Gauteng province. (Thabo Mbeki Foundation)
Representatives of Sudan's Transitional Sovereign Council called off the Thabo Mbeki Foundation's first African Peace and Security Dialogue in Gauteng province on Sunday in protest against the participation of the rebel Rapid Support Force (RSF). He announced that he had chosen to give up.
“The blood of Sudanese people is not cheap. Any attempt to force Sudanese people to coexist with this criminal militia is unacceptable,” said Malik Agha Eyre, vice-chairman of the council. email and guardian.
Agar, who was scheduled to speak at the conference, said that inviting a delegation from what he called “a fascist militia owned by the Dagalo family” to the peace and security conference “represents a gross underestimation of the humanity of the Sudanese people.” said. They are in danger at the hands of these mercenaries. ”
He was referring to RSF leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who claims control of 72% of Sudan's territory, including the capital Khartoum.
The Thabo Mbeki Foundation hosted a forum on the theme “Towards a Peaceful and Secure Africa: Challenges and Opportunities”.
Foreign and defense ministers from across the continent, including Sudan, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Liberia, Tanzania, Rwanda and Mauritania, gathered to assess the factors hindering peacekeeping in Africa.
The foundation has not yet commented on the withdrawal of its representatives from Sudan's Transitional Sovereign Council.
However, Crispin Phiri, a spokesperson for International Relations and Cooperation Minister Ronald Lamola, posted on X that the minister met Agha and RSF Brigadier General Omar Hamdan at the edge of the forum.
“Minister Lamola expressed support for dialogue between the opposing factions,” Phiri added.
According to Human Rights Watch, the Sudanese conflict was characterized by widespread war crimes and other atrocities against civilians, for which both the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces were responsible.
The United Nations World Food Program says Sudan is facing the world's largest hunger crisis, with an estimated 26.6 million people facing food insecurity. But Hussein Elamin, head of Sudan's foreign ministry, denied this statistic over the weekend.
“Sudan does not have a hunger problem… How can we go hungry when we are contributing to the food of the Arab world?” El-Amin said. Speaking on the sidelines of the Peace and Security Forum, he said the statistics were a ploy by the RSF to paint a negative image of the country.
Participants at the conference said they agreed that the African Union has not been successful in mediating conflicts on the continent.
“The AU structure has proven ineffective as there is no anchor state to protect the vision of Africa,” said Ayanda Ntsaluba, group executive director at Discovery.
Somalia's former foreign minister, Abdisaid Muse Ali, echoed similar sentiments, saying that while the body was once a peacekeeping tool, it has not been possible to maintain it given recent conflict resolution efforts. He pointed out that there was no.
“I am not optimistic about the AU…Reforms are needed,” Ali said. M&G.
Bantu Holomisa, South Africa's deputy defense minister, said there was a need to “revive and strengthen the AU's Peace and Security Council, which was originally envisioned as the continent's key conflict resolution institution.”
In 2019, the AU Peace and Security Council suspended Sudan's participation in all operations “until a civilian-led transitional authority is effectively established as the only way for Sudan to emerge from the current crisis.”
In June this year, the AU sent a fact-finding mission to Sudan to investigate violations, analyze the gender dimensions of the conflict and determine whether crimes under international law have been committed since the conflict began in April 2023. proposed to send.
Professor Philip Kasaija Apuri of Uganda's Makerere University suggested there are limits to what the AU can do regarding the Sudanese conflict.
“We have to be nuanced when we say the AU is not effective, but I don’t think that’s true. [should] “They say the AU is not functioning the way it should, but I think that's a much better description,” he said. M&G.
“This is not a military branch. What do you expect us to do?” The government is doing everything it can and has come up with proposals to end the conflict. ”
