Sudan Peace Agreement: Still a Long Way to Go
TRANSCEND MEMBERS, 26 Aug 2024
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service
22 Aug 2024 – U.S.-sponsored talks began in Geneva on 19 Aug 2024 to address the ongoing conflict in Sudan, which has been devastating the country for more than 16 months. Switzerland is co-host of the effort, but the U.S. has taken the lead. The representatives of the Regular Sudanese Army are not participating in the talks, so little progress is expected.
The civil war has gone on since April 2023 between the Rapid Support Forces led by General Mohamed Hamdan, known by his battle name of Hemedti, and the Sudanese Armed Forces led by General Abdul Fattah al-Burham. The fighting has led to some 15,000 persons being killed and 8 million displaced. The agriculture in the country is disorganized, and many people face acute hunger and, in some areas, famine.
Each of the two generals has created local militias which rob, torture, rape, and create conditions of disorder. Many of the militias use child soldiers in violation of UN treaties on the protection of children. Each of the two generals has opened the door to foreign fighters. There are Russian mercenaries which had been under the control of the Russian Wagner Group who had been fighting in Mali, Chad, Niger, and the Central African Republic. There are Ukrainian mercenaries who have come to fight the Russians.
It is difficult to understand the intensity of the current divisions represented by the two generals who had once been allies. The current divisions do not follow earlier fault lines in Sudan.
The Association of World Citizens has appealed for a ceasefire and the provisions for humanitarian assistance as there is an urgent need for food, medicine and health services.
At this stage it is difficult to know what outside parties might have an influence. We have to keep searching what can be done.
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René Wadlow is a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace Development Environment. He is President of the Association of World Citizens, an international peace organization with consultative status with ECOSOC, the United Nations organ facilitating international cooperation and problem-solving in economic and social issues, and editor of Transnational Perspectives.
Tags: Africa, Famine, Hunger, Massacre, Revolution, South Sudan, Sudan, Violent conflict
This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 26 Aug 2024.
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