UK has a key role to play in fighting for peace in Sudan

RIGHT NOW IN SUDAN, over five million people have been displaced and many thousands killed. Twenty-four million people – half the population – need humanitarian assistance, 15 million suffer from acute food insecurity and 19 million children are out of school. Recent analysis has shown that at least 68 villages in Darfur have been burnt to the ground by armed militia in the past few months.  The UK's APPG hopes that more can be done to stop the flow of arms to warring parties by putting greater pressure on their regional backers, enforcing the existing UN arms embargo on Darfur and extending it to the entire country. Read more in the following article.

From Politics Home, UK

By Vicky Ford MP @vickyford

Dated Thursday, 9 November 2023 - here is a copy in full:

The UK has a key role to play in fighting for peace in Sudan

Wreckage in Khartoum (Credit: Associated Press / Alamy Stock Photo)

October marked six months since the beginning of the war in Sudan and two years since the military coup that first dashed hopes of Sudan’s swift road to democracy. There is no clear winner and no end in sight.

Over five million people have been displaced and many thousands killed. Twenty-four million people – half the population – need humanitarian assistance, 15 million suffer from acute food insecurity and 19 million children are out of school. Of the $2.6bn required for humanitarian assistance, only $859m is available. 

Members of the [UK Govt] All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Sudan and South Sudan met with Liela Musa Medani, a Sudanese woman who has previously lived in the United Kingdom for over 20 years. She escaped from Khartoum in July but remains in touch with family members. Of the 50 households that used to live in her street, only four remain. 

For the past six months, they have faced killings and artillery shelling every single day. There is no food, and anyone who tries to transport food risks their life. There is no electricity, no water, no medicine and no humanitarian aid. The few people left in that once mighty city cannot leave. School buildings are now cemeteries. Girls have learned to disfigure themselves to try to avoid being raped.

Ethnic cleansing has returned to Darfur. Twenty years ago, during the genocide, between 300,000 and 400,000 people were killed, either directly in the conflict or indirectly. Recent analysis has shown that at least 68 villages in Darfur have been burnt to the ground by armed militia in the past few months.  

Since the war began, many of those forced to leave their homes have fled towards Chad and South Sudan. Over 320,000 Sudanese have crossed the border into Egypt, while many others are still stranded at the borders.

The UK has a key role to play due to our close historical relations with Sudan, the trust many Sudanese people still place in us and our role as a penholder in the United Nations Security Council. The significant Sudanese diaspora community in the UK includes NHS doctors. 

The UK has sanctioned some of the financial networks of the warring parties, sponsored a resolution at the UN Human Rights Council establishing an independent Commission of Enquiry to investigate alleged human rights violations and provided diplomatic and practical support to help pro-democracy civilians cohere around a common platform.

The UK should continue to press for an immediate ceasefire to facilitate humanitarian access, scale up life-saving support and support better co-ordination between different regional and international mediation initiatives. 

The APPG hopes that more can be done to stop the flow of arms to warring parties by putting greater pressure on their regional backers, enforcing the existing UN arms embargo on Darfur and extending it to the entire country. Targeted sanctions should also be extended to old regime loyalists who are calling for the continuation of the war.   

There are two potentially encouraging developments. The Jeddah talks, suspended since June, have resumed and Sudanese civilian leaders have met in Addis Ababa aiming to build a united Democratic Civilian Front to end the war, deliver vital humanitarian assistance and secure a path to democratic government. This may create momentum for further unification of democratic civilian voices. Nevertheless, the prospects for ending the war remain very uncertain.  

It is in the UK’s strategic interest to try to prevent the spread of terrorism, increased migration and the destabilisation of the wider region. Therefore it remains important that the UK continues to play an active diplomatic role and try to find a path to peace.

Vicky Ford, Conservative MP for Chelmsford, former minister for Africa and chair of the APPG for Sudan and South Sudan

View original: https://www.politicshome.com/thehouse/article/uk-key-role-play-fighting-peace-sudan

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Civil Front to Stop the War and Restore Democracy in Sudan concludes Addis meetings, contacts SLM-AW

NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor: The following report, written in Arabic, was sent to me today by a Sudanese man living and working in England, UK. As he is keen to see peace in Sudan I have used Google translate to document the report here in English. A report by Sudan Tribune, also copied here below, explains who is behind the 'Civil Front'. It is heartening to see former Prime Minister Hamdok's name cited in the Sudan Tribune's report. 

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Report from Al Taghyeer -  altaghyeer.info/en/
Dated 20 September 2023 - here is a full copy (using Google translate):

Civil Front concludes Addis meetings and takes steps to stop war in Sudan

The components of the Civil Front to Stop the War and Restore Democracy in Sudan agreed on the importance of strengthening the efforts of all forces calling for stopping the war and restoring democracy, and the need to coordinate between them as soon as possible.

Khartoum: Change

The Civil Front to Stop the War and Restore Democracy in Sudan concluded meetings of the Coordination and Communication Authority held on September 17 and 18 in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, and issued a final statement on the deliberations and decisions.

According to the statement issued on Tuesday, the meeting stressed the need to redouble efforts to confront the plans of the remnants of the former regime calling for the continuation of the war, and discussed the importance of strengthening the efforts of all forces calling for stopping the war and restoring democracy and the need to coordinate between them as soon as possible.

He announced the formation of a committee to communicate with all democratic civil forces to accelerate these efforts, and the meeting adhered to the political vision of the components of the Civil Front.

"Change" publishes the text of the final statement:

Civil Front to Stop the War and Restore Democracy

Final communiqué of the meetings of the Coordination and Communication Authority

The meetings of the Coordination and Liaison Committee of the Civil Front to Stop the War and Restore Democracy, which lasted for two days (September 17 and 18), concluded in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, these meetings discussed the poor humanitarian situation caused by the war, and the political efforts exerted to work to stop it by building the broadest civil front of democratic forces opposed to it.

At the outset, the Civil Front paid tribute to those who lost their lives in this war, and expressed its full solidarity with the injured, displaced and refugee victims.

It declared its full condemnation of the gross violations of human rights, which varied between killings, occupation of homes and hospitals, looting of property, arrests, kidnappings, rape and many heinous crimes committed by the Rapid Support Forces, as well as all violations of killing, aerial bombardment of civilians and arbitrary arrests by the armed forces, and called for a transparent investigation and accountability for all those involved.

The participants stressed the need to redouble efforts to confront the plans of the remnants of the former regime who call for the continuation of this war, use it to demonize the revolution and liquidate its forces, and spread hate speech and ethnic and regional division.

They also discussed the importance of strengthening the efforts made by all civil forces calling for stopping the war and restoring democracy, and stressed the need for coordination between them as soon as possible, and a committee was formed from all categories of the front to communicate with all civil democratic forces to accelerate these efforts and reach the widest civil front that works to end the war, and rebuild the state on the basis of the principles, values and goals of the glorious December revolution.

The meeting adhered to the political vision of the components of the Civil Front, which was contained in the founding statement of the Front on the twenty-seventh of last April, and work to develop it with the rest of the civil democratic forces in response to the new reality produced by the fifteenth of April war and its repercussions.

They agreed to establish a national mechanism for reparations and compensation, including the relevant authorities, to account for all the damage caused by the war, and stressed that any political solution to end it must not fall under the principle of fair and equitable compensation for all those who have been harmed and harmed by this damned war.

They also appreciated the efforts of humanitarian aid workers from local, regional and international institutions and organizations, especially the emergency rooms in Khartoum State and all cities and regions of Sudan, who work in very complex conditions, stressing the need to ensure the delivery of aid to those who deserve it.

In conclusion, it was agreed to activate the organizational, media and humanitarian work to achieve the goals of the interim and future front.

Coordination and Communication Authority

19 September 2023

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

View original: https://www.altaghyeer.info/ar/2023/09/19/الجبهة-المدنية-تختتم-اجتماعات-أديس/

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Related report

From Sudan Tribune.com

Dated Thursday, 13 October 2023 - here is a full copy:

Sudanese anti-war civilian forces reach out to Darfur holdout group

Image: FFC leaders meet Ugandan president on July 3, 2023

October 13, 2023 (ADDIS ABABA) – A prominent leader of the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) revealed that the Civil Front to Stop the War and Restore Democracy forces have been in contact with the Sudan Liberation Movement led by Abdel Wahid Nur (SLM-AW) to join this collective effort.

Since July of this year, political forces, civil society groups, and some armed movements that are parties to the Juba peace agreement have been engaged in discussions to establish a broad civil coalition. The purpose of this coalition is to exert pressure on the warring factions to cease hostilities and revive the path toward democratic transition.

Nur al-Din Babikir, a member of the FFC leadership and spokesman for the Sudanese Congress Party, told Sudan Tribune that there is coordination between the Front, the SLM-AW, the initiatives led by former Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok and former Sudanese ambassador to the United States Nur al-Din Satti. He added that the purpose of these consultations is to convene a founding conference for the Civil Front.

Babikir stated that the conference’s agenda is centred on halting the conflict by forming a coalition capable of compelling both sides involved in the conflict to cease hostilities. Subsequently, this would pave the way for a political process to restore the civilian-led democratic transition through an agreed project.

He further confirmed that the FFC also consults with IGAD, neighbouring countries, and other regional actors to unify their initiatives. He stressed that these efforts have made some progress towards achieving a ceasefire despite the lack of commitment from both parties.

Also, he announced that the United States and Saudi Arabia are holding consultations to resume the Jeddah process to end the war in the near future, starting with the cessation of hostilities, the establishment of humanitarian corridors to provide aid to the war-afflicted civilians, and a subsequent political process that ends the war.

He pointed out that the Front includes many Sudanese figures representing various bodies, the FFC, and nine coordination committees for Resistance Committees, civil society initiatives, and armed groups.

The SLM-AW rejects the Juba Peace Agreement and refuses to participate in any peace process to end the war in Darfur. In return, the Movement calls for a national conference to discuss issues of identity, wealth distribution, and justice and social justice in the country.

It’s worth noting that the SLM-AW has rejected the Juba Peace Agreement and remains unwilling to participate in any peace process to end the conflict in Darfur. Instead, the group calls for a national conference to address matters related to identity, wealth distribution, justice, and social justice within the country.

The FFC-initiated civilian front has not announced any contact with the Democratic Bloc groups, which includes the SLM led by Minni Minnawi and the Justice and Equality Movement of Gibril Ibrahim.

A severe conflict has been ongoing between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces since April 15 of this year. This has been accompanied by grave violations against civilians, including killings, sexual violence, arrests, forced displacement, and military airstrikes. (ST)

View original: https://sudantribune.com/article278299/

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