By Dr. David Matsanga in Geneva
I write this article about Sudan crisis with huge grief -Why does it flop each time it is started? Why would the parties in Sudan Peace process choose to disregard the invitation and reject an invite from a mediation process in Geneva?
There are very many underlying reasons. These are the reasons that we must find out and expose as peace lovers in the world. The selection of biased mediators or biased envoys to this noble cause.
Additionally, the mediation venues that are threat to both generals of the two sides, the inclusion of countries that have taken sides, the ICC factor of General Bashir that Americans are perusing and lastly the cheap rivalry of the Gulf States.
I have been a regular critic of the mediation process of Sudan conflict that is influenced by the same countries that have invested interests in Sudan. I have now been vindicated by events that are unfolding in Geneva since August 14, 2024.
I have criticized the AUC, AU plus IGAD for their failure to understand the conflict of Sudan. It should not be a surprise to these bodies as to why the parties just don’t show up at a peace process? They are the obstacles. Take IGAD for example that seems to have little faith in itself about the conflict.
It is mind boggling to any scholar of conflict resolution in the world as why a conference can go on without those who are beneficiaries not attending? This must ring a bell to those who are bent on holding this conference for their countries political expediency the case of USA elections in November 2024.
I believe that the Sudan question betrays a severe lack of depth and an inability to deal with the slightest complexity where the real world is concerned. Some countries in Geneva think conflicts are like economic investments where you pick a money to support winning and losing teams. No. It is more than that.
In the minds of those who support some of the Sudan parties at such a peace conference, they think offering strident peace to Sudan without criticism would bring peace in the region. The problem of most of those calling these conferences is that they have picked on them for criticism. Again No.
My criticism is not that I have picked the “anti-peace process ” side, like I’m supporting football team of Liverpool or the other. No. I’m supposed to do something that will help the peace process progress. We are dealing with political economics and geopolitics of the region where Sudan finds itself in.
First of all, my criticism of the Sudan peace process started way back before the 2022. I have regrets for what I have said about the conduct of the peace process that does not have participation from the suffering groups .
I have written several letters to both the Sudanese Generals Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo and Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, UN Secretary General António Guterres, the AUC Chairperson HE Dr Moussa Faki Mahamat, to the Executive Secretary of IGAD Dr. Workneh Gebeyehu expressing deep concerns about the vested interests of the Gulf States.
The entire record of the peace process from ceasefire is wrongly done . It has not always been about the delivery of peace but delivery of interests to the extent that countries like UAE and Saudi Arabia have taken sides that makes it difficult for peace to come yet people are dying on the ground in Sudan.
The dangerous “Gulf state politics” that has thrown the entire region in war mood is slowly shifting toward the entire Red Sea in the last two years. Mine remains an entirely valid criticism.
I have offered criticism that has revolved around concerns of monopoly of knowledge of war by Gulf states that divided Libya and that have failed to bring Unity in Libya.
The Same countries mentioned by both sides as stumbling blocks to the peace in Sudan are not ashamed of being catalysts of the conflict. They are on table here. They are doing business using the plight of the people of Sudan who face a huge humanitarian crisis and potentially turning Sudan into an arms market – This is also my very valid concern as a Pan African.
The truth is that the peace process is a saga. Ideally, the arms dealers should not attend the peace process because they are interested parties that want to control the sale of arms to warring parties in the process. That is the reason why it has failed.
This is one of the sticking point that has made peace talks impossible. The UN knows the truth but the UNSC members themselves embroiled in the conflict of Sudan have not be useful in stopping this malaise.
However, where the choices presented are between foreign potential supporters of both sides and the imposition of dependence on foreign external arms racketeers that have killed millions in Africa while operating in air-conditioned offices in Gulf States, I have chosen to support neutrality.
This is our continent and if we don’t speak out and call out those who want to export war to our continent we shall be the ones to be blamed. I will never campaign for the continued poverty of my continent for the benefit of some rich states in the Western Hemisphere and the Gulf States. That is why today we call them out to stop selling arms to the both sides.
I have done my best as an African to point out the flaws in the Sudan Peace Process so as to find a solution for the suffering masses of Sudan who are on the run from the fighting groups. That is the situation here.
Remember the men, women and children that are trapped by war in Sudan.
God bless
