For the past two months, the people of Sudan have known no peace.
The ferocious armed conflict between rival factions of the military government of Sudan erupted on April 15 this year when clashes broke out in cities, with the fighting concentrated around the capital city of Khartoum and which later cascaded to the troubled Darfur region.
Since then, the antagonists, the Sudan Defence Forces loyal to Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the country’s de facto ruler, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces commanded by the former warlord Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, have refused to silence their guns in spite of several calls for an armistice by regional and international agencies.
This, however, is not the first time Sudan has descended into war. In 2003, a brutal ethnic violence broke out in Darfur when the government deployed the notorious Janjaweed Arab militia to quash an uprising by non-Arab groups.
The civil war led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people in what many researchers and rights groups widely labelled genocide. That war ended in 2020, although there have since been sporadic incidences of ethnic violence.
In the current conflict, the de-facto government and the RSF— a paramilitary group that sprouted out of the Janjaweed — have been scrambling for power following the ouster of the former ruler Omar al-Bashir as a result of the 2019 popular uprising by the opposition.
A power-sharing deal with the civilians who led the protests against Bashir, which was supposed to bring about a transition towards a democratic government, was cut short by a coup in October 2021.
The coup put the army back in charge but it faced widespread protests and rebellion from the public.
Hemedti took advantage of the situation and swung behind the call for a new transition, bringing tensions with Burhan to the fore and putting back Sudan into the pressure cooker.
Hostilities between the army and RSF have since pushed the country toward a full-blown war Sudanese have dreaded for years. Although Sudan is no stranger to internal conflicts, sustained urban warfare in Khartoum is unprecedented.
Millions of innocent people, women and children there are trapped in a burgeoning humanitarian calamity. While the SDF and RSF obliterate Khartoum with bombs and grenades, civilians crouch down inside their homes without electricity amid scorching heat and lack water.
The question the region must ask itself is, are we going to allow Sudan’s free fall into a failed state? Many innocent civilians have died, thousands injured and a refugee crisis of monumental proportions is brewing in the neighbouring countries like Chad that has so far witnessed an influx of Sudanese exiled from their own country by war.
A humanitarian and development disaster in a region already struggling with drought and chronic instability would be cataclysmic.
It, therefore, goes without saying that burying our heads in the sand and turning a blind eye to a conflict that has the potential of destabilising the entire region is not an option.
Burhan and Hemedti, the two men controlling the fighting troops, must be brought to the negotiating table and be guided to resolve their differences through dialogue. For an effective dialogue, realisation of a ceasefire, and a return to civilian democratic rule, all stakeholders need to be brought on board with a view to finding a lasting solution to the crisis.
That is why the emergency high-level delegation led by President William Ruto dispatched by Inter-Governmental Authority on Development to mediate between the two sides is a step in the right direction by the regional bloc. The people of Sudan and the entire world are looking up to Igad for a return to normalcy in that country.
The President, speaking after the meeting of the Ordinary Summit of Igad said, “We have taken the decision that the quartet of Kenya, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Somalia, will, in the next 10 days, meet face to face with General Al-Burhan and General Daglo…so that we can speak to them directly on behalf of Igad, with the view of stopping the war that is raging”.
The decision taken by Igad has, without a doubt, brought a glimmer of hope of the war coming to an end soon. It should be remembered that Kenya has earned accolades as an important player in peace building across the region with remarkable results. And this will not be the first time Kenya is involved in midwifing peace in Sudan.
Under the leadership of the former President Daniel Moi, Kenya successfully mediated between South and North Sudan leading to a peace settlement that resulted in the independence of the present day South Sudan.
Fully aware of the task ahead of him, the President underscored Kenya’s commitment to the process by emphasising that “Kenya commits to meet the two Sudan generals face to face to find a lasting solution to the crisis”.
As the clock ticks, the international community and the Sudanese suffering under constant bombardments will be keenly following the Kenyan-led mediation process geared toward stopping the senseless war and reinstating civilian government which is the hope of the gallant people of Sudan.
MDG party leader and Ugenya MP
