The UN Security Council (UNSC) heard a proposal from Sudanese Prime Minister Kamil Idris on Monday that would end the nation’s nearly three-year conflict, which has caused the worst humanitarian crisis in history, resulting in the displacement of 14 million people.
After a power struggle between Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo, the head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), and Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the country erupted into civil war in April 2023.
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Rights groups are urging opposing sides to strike a deal to end the bloodshed following the recent massacres in Sudan’s Darfur region.
What is Idris’s Sudanese peace plan?
The UN, the African Union, and the League of Arab States all monitored the transitional government’s prime minister, Idris, who suggested an immediate ceasefire in Sudan.
He suggested that the territory it controls be completely deserted by RSF troops.
Analyst Jihad Mashamoun told the Anadolu news agency in November that the RSF and its allies possessed roughly 40% of Sudan. The majority of the Darfur and Kordofan regions are included in this.
More than 1,500 people were killed when the RSF seized control of El-Fasher, the state capital, in October. Additionally, it has control over significant infrastructure, including the Heglig oilfield, which was seized on December 8 and close to the South Sudanese border.
The SAF controls the remaining 60%, including Khartoum, the capital. It is in charge of eastern Sudan, including Port Sudan along the Red Sea, its de facto administrative capital, northern states, and some areas of central Sudan. Additionally, air power is retained. The Sudanese army reported on Monday that it had taken control of a town in North Kordofan state southwest of the city of al-Rahad.
After their withdrawal, Idris, who was appointed by the army in May, suggested that the RSF members be vetted and placed in camps. He claimed that the strategy would bring back RSF fighters who are not accused of war crimes.
He made the promise to hold free elections following a transitional period to promote “inter-Sudanese dialogue.”
He claimed that the goal of this was to end a decades-long cycle of violence in Sudan. “This is not about winning a war.”
The UNSC has not yet cast a vote on the proposal, and discussions are still raging.
What was the RSF’s response to the peace plan?
Hemedti’s adviser Al-Basha Tibiq announced that the RSF had rejected Idris’s plan.
Tibiq claimed in a statement posted on Facebook that the strategy was “nothing more than a recycling of outdated exclusionary rhetoric” that was unrelated to the military chief’s statement, al-Burhan.
The RSF’s proposed withdrawal from the territory it controls, according to Tibiq, is “closer to fantasy than politics.”
Regional mediators have been urging on a different plan, which al-Burhan had previously rejected, alleging that the United Arab Emirates’ participation had made it more favorable to the paramilitaries and the army.
The UAE is accused of arming the RSF by Sudan’s transitional government.
The US, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the UAE have all been collaborating with the Quad group to mediate between the SAF and the RSF.
The UAE has consistently refuted claims that the RSF was arming and funding it, and in March, it condemned Sudan’s decision to file a case with the International Court of Justice, calling the allegations “cynical publicity stunt.”
What position does the Quad hold here?
The US Ambassador to the UN, Jeffrey Bartos, urged the RSF and SAF to accept an alternative plan for a humanitarian truce, which The Quad supports.
Before Idris took the stage to address the UNSC, Bartos urged both belligerents to “accept this plan without conditions immediately.”
A three-month truce would be a step toward a permanent ceasefire, improved humanitarian access, and the start of a political process for a civilian-led transition, the Quad stated in a statement in September.
The RSF announced in early November that it would accept the Quad’s request for a truce, but the conflict has continued.
Idris made a direct reference to the Quad’s support for a truce, saying that his peace proposal was “homemade” rather than “imposed on us.”
What are the opinions of experts on the peace plan?
The novelty of the message, according to Al-Rashid Muhammad Ibrahim, lies in its lucidity and reframing of the conflict in Sudan as an act of aggression, according to Al-Rashid Muhammad Ibrahim, who directs the Center for International Political Relations Studies in Khartoum.
According to political analyst Faisal Abdel Karim, any initiative must be accepted by the opposing side, which is the RSF in this instance. The international and regional powers that control the Sudanese landscape must also support the plan, he added.
He claimed that some aspects of the plan are reasonable while others are not.
In Antonio Guterres’ absence, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was requesting the peace plan during a briefing session, according to political analyst Al-Wathiq Kameir.
When the prime minister of a war-torn nation addresses a hall dominated by heads of missions or their deputies at a time when the holidays, which include Christmas and the end of the year, are politically dead, “it becomes questionable,” Kameir said.
What other ways has the peace plan been reacted to?
The 22-member Arab League’s secretary-general, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, praised the peace plan on Wednesday.
Gheit called for “positive engagement” with the proposal in a statement released by the league outlining the plan’s “highly significant political, humanitarian, and security messages.”
What is going on in Sudan?
After the paramilitary forces launched more attacks in the area of El-Fasher, fighting between the RSF and the army has gotten worse in recent weeks.
After an 18-month siege that ended residents without access to food, medicine, and other essential supplies, the RSF began the escalation around El-Fasher in October. In its takeover of the city, the organization was accused of carrying out numerous sexual assaults, kidnappings, and mass murders.
Fighting has continued despite the peace plan. The RSF claimed that it has regained control of the Kordofan town Alouba, a crucial center for the region’s violent population.
On the other hand, North Darfur state’s SAF claimed to have destroyed an RSF convoy.
1,700 people reportedly fled to White Nile state, east of Kordofan, according to reports from Sudanese officials on Wednesday, with many of them attempting to flee to Kosti.
According to Al Jazeera’s Mohamed Vall, Kosti’s resources are already strained, with about two million refugees and displaced people living there.
The authorities are urging the international community and any other local or international organizations to help with this situation, especially [given] the severe cuts in funding for the UN organizations specialized in providing] aid to Sudan, Vall said.
Sudan’s civilian government was overthrown by the RSF and the SAF in 2021, but tensions escalated into a power conflict between al-Burhan and Hemedti as a result of tensions over RSF integration and control of the transition.
14 million people have been forced to flee their homes to avoid the bloody fighting that has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people.
