SAF & RSF no shows at Sudan peace talks in Geneva. ICC should issue arrest warrants for Burhan & Hemeti

NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor: I have been dreading today's news about the long awaited Sudan ceasefire talks being held in Geneva, Switzerland starting today. I fear it is Sudan's last chance to save itself and its people and more delays will enable the SAF and RSF to keep on killing their own people.

A BBC report just in (below) says neither side turned up for talks. I know it is none of my business, I am not Sudanese, it is not my place to interfere. As an anti-poverty campaigner, it pains me to know millions of poverty-stricken Sudanese will continue to suffer unnecessarily, I am seeing red right now. 

 

In my view, it is impossible to know what the Americans are playing at. They do not seem to know what they are doing. It is difficult to understand what they and their people like Ms Molly Phee are cooking up behind the scenes.

 

Personally, I wish the ICC would now issue arrest warrants for Messrs Burhan and Hemeti without further delay, charging them with mass murder and blatantly refusing to abide by international and humanitarian law.

_________________________

Report from BBC News

Written by Wedaeli Chibelushi, Imogen Foulkes & Kalkidan Yibetal

Dated Wednesday, 14 August 2024. Full copy:

Sudan peace talks start - but neither side shows up

Image source, AFP Image caption, Around 10 million people have fled their homes as a result of the war

Fresh peace talks aimed at ending Sudan's 16-month war have started although neither warring side has entered the negotiating room.

The US, which is leading the talks, insisted the event continued regardless, saying "we are going to try to do everything we can to try to end this horrific crisis in Sudan".

Fighting between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed thousands, driven about 10 million people from their homes and sparked what the United Nations has called the "world's worst hunger crisis".

The army said it would boycott the talks several days ago, while RSF delegates went to Switzerland but at the last minute said they would stay away.

Dashing hopes of a ceasefire, the army said it would not attend as the RSF had not implemented "what was agreed upon" in Saudi Arabia last year.

The paramilitary group had not met key conditions of the Jeddah Declaration, such as withdrawing its fighters from civilians’ houses and public facilities, the army said.

"Military operations will not stop without the withdrawal of every last militiaman from the cities and villages they have plundered and colonised," said Sudanese armed forces chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.

The RSF has denied accusations of looting and violence against civilians.

As late as Tuesday night, there were still hopes that Sudan's army would arrive for the talks. Tom Perriello, the US Special Envoy for Sudan, said at 23:30 GMT (00:30 Swiss time) that the delegates were "still waiting on the SAF".

"The world is watching," he posted on X.

Mr Perriello told the BBC that in the absence of both sides, the other parties were "moving forward with the negotiations on everything we can do, to make sure we are getting food and medicine and civilian protection to every person in Sudan".

The RSF on Tuesday night said its arrival in Geneva was "a powerful testament to our resolve and determination to alleviate the suffering of the Sudanese people". The group called on the army to attend the talks.

However, the RSF were not present at the start of the talks on Wednesday. The group has not publicly given a reason for withdrawing.

Before the talks were due to begin, and before the RSF pulled out, Mukesh Kapila, the former United Nations Chief Coordinator for Sudan, said the mood among the delegates was "pretty glum".

"I don't think the two belligerents are interested in talking to each other. One of them is not here already and not much is expected," he told the BBC.

Mr Perriello, however, said he was "very, very hopeful" that the army would listen to "the overwhelming voice of the Sudanese people" and send delegates to Geneva for the talks.

Previous peace talks in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain have all failed.

Delegates from the US, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the African Union and the United Nations attended Wednesday's ceremony.

As well as citing the Jeddah Declaration, the army also said it objected to the presence of the UAE as an observer.

The UAE has been accused of arming the RSF, although the Gulf nation has denied any involvement.

The US said the UAE and Egypt - also thought to wield influence in the conflict - needed to attend the talks to help ensure any ceasefire actually holds.

According to the UN’s migration agency, tens of thousands of preventable deaths are looming in Sudan if the conflict and restrictions on humanitarian aid continue.

As talks began in Geneva, medical charity MSF said the last functioning city in the besieged Sudanese city of el-Fasher may have to shut down due to intensive bombardment.

The surgical ward in the Saudi hospital was hit on Sunday, killing the carer of a patient and injuring five others, the charity reported.

The Rapid Support Forces have been trying to capture the city from the army for several months, forcing tens of thousands of civilian to flee.

It is the last city still under army control in the western region of Darfur, where the RSF has been accused of widespread atrocities against the region's non-Arabic population.

Additional reporting from Will Ross

• A simple guide to what is happening in Sudan
• A front-row seat to my country, Sudan, falling apart
• The children living between starvation and death in Darfur

View original: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c985493m719o

___________________________

Related reports

BBC News - Wed 14 Aug 2024

Sudan army boycotts US-led peace talks

Sudan's army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan refused to send a delegation to the peace talks in Geneva. Fresh peace talks aimed at ending Sudan's 16-month war have started although neither warring side has entered the negotiating room. The US, which is leading the talks, insisted the event continued regardless, saying "we are going to try to do everything we can to try to end this horrific crisis in Sudan".

Full story: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c985493m719o

_______

Dabanga English Online - Wed 14 Aug 2024

Cameron Hudson: ‘Outside backers perpetuate Sudan stalemate’

Hudson emphasised that SAF’s decision to boycott the talks is not final. “It is a reversible decision,” he said, highlighting that SAF could be compelled or choose to change its stance depending on the evolving situation on the ground. He pointed out that SAF has consistently insisted on the implementation of the previous Jeddah agreement and seeks recognition not as an equivalent to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), but as the ‘legitimate government’ of Sudan.

Full story: https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/cameron-hudson-outside-backers-perpetuate-sudan-stalemat

_____

Geneva Solutions - Tue 13 Aug 2024

Sudan talks in Geneva: ‘We want peace’

Yassin regretted the exclusion of Tagadum and other civilian representatives from the talks. Only a dozen representatives from women’s groups, whose identities have not been disclosed for security reasons, were invited as observers, along with the United Nations and the African Union. He still welcomed the talks as “a good step towards building peace”. Rasheed harbours no illusions on her part, noting that “civilian voices are largely ignored”. “These people are treated as legitimate leaders. The table is there for those with the guns,” she said. She still views it as a necessary step. “The main thing is to stop the senseless dying and starving. Whatever progress is made is more than welcome.”

Full story: https://genevasolutions.news/peace-humanitarian/sudan-talks-in-geneva-we-want-peace

_____

End

Former Sudan PM Hamdok meets Macron in Paris

REGARDING the absence of the Sudanese government from the Paris conference, President Macron stated during a meeting with Sudanese civil society representatives that the government had lost its legitimacy due to the 2021 coup against civilians. 

In the previous week, Sudan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed “its utmost astonishment and condemnation” of the conference, convened by France, Norway, the United Kingdom, the USA, and the European Union, denouncing “that such a conference is convened on a matter concerning Sudan without consultation or coordination with its government and without its participation…” Read more.

From Radio Dabanga English - www.dabangasudan.org
Dated Wednesday, 17 April 2024 PARIS / OTTAWA - here is a copy in full:

Former Sudan PM Hamdok meets Macron in Paris

Former Prime Minister of Sudan, Abdallah Hamdok (File photo: SUNA)

Former Prime Minister of Sudan and current chair of the Civil Democratic Forces (Tagaddum), Abdalla Hamdok, engaged in discussions on the war in Sudan with French President Emmanuel Macron during a closed session in Paris yesterday.

Following his visit to the French capital, Hamdok expressed gratitude to President Macron for France’s unwavering support of the Sudanese people’s aspirations and their stance in backing Sudan’s December revolution and the transitional civilian government. 

He commended the success of the Paris conference, which drew global attention to Sudan’s plight, raising €2 billion in pledged support from France, Germany, and the European Union for humanitarian aid.

Underscoring the significance of building on the achievements of the Paris conference, the Tagaddum head urged continued international efforts towards silencing the guns of war.

President Macron, in turn, welcomed Hamdok’s participation in the conference activities and reaffirmed France’s commitment to supporting Sudanese efforts for peace, freedom, and justice.

The former Sudanese leader also held discussions with Canadian Minister of International Development Ahmed Hussen and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on the sidelines of the humanitarian conference in Paris.

Earlier this week, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly announced sanctions against two individuals and four entities affiliated with the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces for undermining peace, security, and stability in Sudan.

Regarding the absence of the Sudanese government from the Paris conference, President Macron stated during a meeting with Sudanese civil society representatives that the government had lost its legitimacy due to the 2021 coup against civilians.

Last week, Sudan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed “its utmost astonishment and condemnation” of the conference, convened by France, Norway, the United Kingdom, the USA, and the European Union, denouncing “that such a conference is convened on a matter concerning Sudan without consultation or coordination with its government and without its participation…”

Hamdok reiterated that a military solution to the conflict was untenable and advocated for a negotiated peace process driven by Sudanese initiatives. 

He called for unity among Sudanese factions to streamline peace efforts and avoid fragmentation.

View original: https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/former-sudan-pm-hamdok-meets-macron-in-paris

END

VIDEO & TRANSCRIPT: Situation in Sudan ‘probably the most disastrous in the world’ says ex-PM Hamdok

NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor: I have created a transcript of this video. It is copied in full below. The video can be viewed here.

Video interview from France 24 GuardianTV

Presented on Tete a Tete by Marc Perelman [MP]
Dated Sunday, 21 April 2024, 1:48pm

Situation in Sudan ‘probably the most disastrous in the world’, says former PM Hamdok

FRANCE 24 spoke to Abdalla Hamdok, who served as Sudan’s prime minister twice after the fall of Omar Al-Bashir in 2019. As the war in his country entered its second year, the former premier described the situation as “extremely catastrophic, probably the most serious, disastrous situation in the world today”. Yet he expressed hope that the war “will come to an end”, noting “some progress” in regional and national efforts towards a political solution.

MP- Hello and welcome here on France 24. Our guest today is Abdullah Hamdok. He is the head of Sudan's Tagaddum. It’s a coordination of civic democratic forces. He was prime minister after the fall of the regime of Omar al-Bashir in 2019.  He was pushed out by two military leaders General Al-Burhan and General Hemeti, who since then have been fighting a war, a civil war, and it’s been one year now. 

MP- Thank you very much for being our guest today, Mr. Hamdok. 

AH- Thank you very much for having me. It’s always a pleasure to meet France 24

MP- How would you describe the situation in Sudan exactly one year into this war?

AH- What is happening in Sudan today is extremely catastrophic. Probably the most serious disastrous situation in the world today. We're facing a situation whereby more than 2 million refugees, close to 8 million internally displaced people, but more than that, about 25 million are subjected to famine and starvation.

MP- That's half the population.

AH- Absolutely. Because of this disastrous war, senseless war.

MP- The death toll is often put around 13,000 to 15,000. Is this the real death toll in Sudan?

AH- Absolutely not. I think this is grossly underestimated. The death toll could be multiples of that. I would like to think we might never be able to know the exact number of people who lost their life in this war. 

MP- How would you describe what is happening? Is it a civil war? Is it a war where war crimes, crimes against humanity, even genoicde are being committed? What words would you use?

AH- This is, it is indeed a civil war, but I think this is not the first war in the history of Sudan. Our first was started in 1955, just a year before independence of Sudan, 1956. And there are so many other wars. The war in the South last for so many decades. The genocide war in Darfur, the war in the Nuba Mountains, the Blue Nile, the East and all that. But this current war is different from the previous wars. In the past, the wars were in the periphery, in the regions. This time, the war started in the center and engulfed the whole country. So in that sense, it is an all-out war in the whole country. 

MP- Is it a war between two men and two ambitions? Is this what it's all about?

AH- I think this is again another misconception of the Sudanese war. Portraying it as a fight between two generals, this is far from that. It is a war that has its root causes in history, in issues of marginalisation, which whether it's ethnic, regional, religious and all that. It's a war created essentially by the historical model of development, issues of underdevelopment, and many of this. So I think in the beginning of the war even the international community has perceived this war as a fight between generals which is totally missing the point. But I think with the concerted effort by civilians, by many actors this conceptualization is changing now and everybody is beginning to understand it this war is much deeper than that which hence requires different instrument and different engagement and approaches to address it. 

MP- Well, how do you address it? Do you see any light at the end of this tunnel you just described?

AH- It's a disaster situation today but I'm an eternal optimist. I don't think there is a war that can last forever. It will come to an end.

MP- How?

AH- Our desire and our hope that it will stop yesterday, today before tomorrow, we're working on that. As you put it in your introduction, I had this Tagaddum Group. We had a meeting early this month in Addis Ababa. We came up with about what we call political vision as a contribution to address this war, which we had a vision which has four components. If I can briefly just mention them. Number one, we agreed on what we could call Declaration of Principle which addressing fundamental issues of the unity of the country, one army, issues of justice and transitional justice, calling for democratic rule, federalism, addressing issues of building state institutions and all that. But also a political process, which has so many components. And then we addressed also the issue of the negotiation venue and all that.

MP- Right, but as we speak, there have been attempts by regional organisations, by the African Union, by Saudi Arabia, the US, what’s called a Jeddah process but nothing’s working. The war is raging on. Why?

AH-  Let me start by appreciating all this effort by the regional organisations, community and the international community.

PH- But they’re not working.

MP- They are not, we know they are not because it is a complex issue. But I think we are seeing some progress in this. If you remember, when the war started, we had the Jeddah process, which was coordinated, led by the United States and Saudi Arabia. It made some progress, but after a while, it got stalled. But also the African Union got involved in this. The neighbouring countries, there was the neighbouring country initiative put forward by Egypt and IGAD also intervened, a number of other regional countries. I think we are seeing gradually some sort of convergence. The Manama initiative or encounter which happened probably two months ago, we think it’s a step in the right direction bringing more actors into the process. Now we are hearing more effort is being made to expand this a little bit by involving other actors. And that’s the only assuring way. Certainly, we do not want to see proliferation of initiatives and forum, and we want to avoid what we can call forum shopping. So we wanted a coordinated process that is coordinated in one centre. Of course, modern mediation would have built into into it multiple maybe approaches, but we don’t want parallel. We want it to be coordinated by one centre.

MP- Right, and who should be the center?

AH- I think currently the revive, enhance Jeddah that will take on board all the other initiatives will be the right way to go.

MP- Right, the problem is bringing both generals to the same table. You had a meeting with General Hemeti in Addis Ababa in early January. You said this was a building block and you were hoping that General Al Burhan would also meet with you. That hasn’t happened. Why has he refused to meet with you?  Because he thinks that you’re siding with General Hemeti maybe?

AH- There is a lot of, maybe what you can call it, accusation in that direction. But end of last year in December we wrote to both generals, to General Burhan and Genera Hemeti asking them to meet. General Hemeti responded. We met him in Addis. We agreed and issued Addis Declaration which is essentially having all these ingredients of going back to a civilian rule, declaration of principle, protection of civilian and all that. General Burhan responded saying that in principle he would not have a problem in meeting. But this has yet to materialise. In our meeting in Addis Ababa early this month we again confirmed and affirmed our desire to meet him. And we will continue pursuing that because we think this is the only assured way and it  is in the interest of our country because there is no military solution to this. 

MP- Does this mean that General Hemeti is more committed to a peaceful solution than General Burhan who seems not really very interested in this?

AH- Well, we take them with their pronouncements. General Hemeti, we met with him. He agreed with us that we need to go through a political process. We are yet to hear the same sentiments echoed by Burhan. 

MP- Right. In early April, the public prosecutor filed criminal charges against you and a dozen of other members of, let’s call it the anti-war coalition, for quote unquote inciting war against the state. This carries the death penalty. What is your reaction to those very serious accusations and what does it mean?

AH- Well, I leave the judgement to the largest population of Sudan and the region and the international community. But it is quite a funny thing. We are a civilian group. We do not carry arm inciting violence and all this is just fictitious. They have accused myself and more than 40 of our colleagues of inciting violence against the state which is totally fabricated. And I don’t think it is helping. We would like to see ourselves as Sudanese engaging at a much higher level of seriousness in addressing the crisis of our country.

MP- Is this a response of a general, Al Burhan maybe? Because one can assume the public prosecutor did this maybe on his behalf.

AH- I don’t believe the prosecutor just woke up and did this. 

MP- So you think this is a negative response to Al Burhan?

AH- Absolutely, I mean it has to be decided from somewhere in the circles, yeah.

MP- Abdalla Hamdok, it’s me who wants to thank you very much for appearing on the France24 channel and thank you all for watching this interview.

See video here: https://tv.guardian.ng/news/world-news/situation-in-sudan-probably-the-most-disastrous-in-the-world-says-former-pm-hamdok/

____________________________

Related 

Sudan Tribune - April 20, 2024

Sudanese political figures discuss path to peace at Geneva workshop 

Photo: Smoke rises from Sudan’s capital as conflict grips Khartoum on May 19, 2023 (AFP photo)

It’s important to note that representatives of the former regime and the warring parties were excluded from the Geneva meeting. All other Sudanese political forces were invited regardless of their stance on the conflict. 

This workshop echoes a similar agreement reached at a Paris meeting organized by France on April 15th. The Paris seminar included only civilian actors, while the Geneva meeting, in addition, involved the armed movements that signed the Juba peace agreement.

Read full story: https://sudantribune.com/article284685/

END