As fighting continued in the Kordofan and North Kordofan States, Sudan’s prime minister has presented a peace plan to end the brutal conflict with the UN Security Council (UNSC). He appealed to members to stand “on the right side of history” by backing the initiative.
Idris gave a briefing to the UNSC on Monday that would include the UN, the African Union, and the Arab League’s monitoring of the conflict, as well as the withdrawal of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary from the country they controlled.
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He claimed that the proposal would require RSF forces to be stationed in camps and disarmed in order for the truce to have a “chance for success,” as well as RSF forces, who have been engaged in vicious clashes with the Sudanese military since the conflict broke out in April 2023.
Idris also pledged to hold free elections following a transition period to foster “inter-Sudanese dialogue,” and that the plans would allow RSF fighters who are not connected to war crimes to be reintegrated into society.
He asserted that winning a war is not important. It’s about bringing an end to a decades-old war against Sudan.
He urged the council’s 15 members to support the initiative, claiming that it would “mark the moment when Sudan steps back from the brink and the international community – you, you!” – positioned itself as historicalally correct”.
Fighting continued in Sudan as he addressed the UN, with the Sudanese army reporting on Monday that it had recaptured a town in North Kordofan State southwest of the city of al-Rahad.
More than 1,500 people were killed when the RSF seized the western Darfur city of El-Fasher in October. The conflict, which involved the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) commander Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo, has caused tens of thousands of deaths and displaced about 14 million people.
Quad supports the proposal for a truce
However, US Ambassador Jeffrey Bartos made a different suggestion that addressed the humanitarian crisis.
He urged the Sudanese government and the RSF to accept a different approach to a humanitarian truce, suggested by the US and key mediators Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates (also known as the Quad).
He urged “we urge both belligerents to accept this plan without conditions right away.”
A three-month truce was demanded in a Quad statement in September, which would result in a permanent ceasefire, humanitarian assistance for the injured, and the establishment of a political transition process.
The RSF stated in early November that it complied with the Quad’s request for a humanitarian truce. The most severe clashes have occurred in Kordofan, where at least 100 civilians have been killed since early December, and more than 50 000 have been displaced.
More than 40, 000 people have died as a result of the conflict in Sudan, according to the UN, despite aid groups’ claims that the actual number could be higher. Additionally, there have been outbreaks of disease and famine in some of the country.
About 1,700 internally displaced people, the majority of them women and children, have recently arrived at a displacement camp near Kosti, in White Nile State, according to officials, who are reportedly fleeing violence as RSF advances in their towns in the violence-wracked Kordofan region.
According to Mohamed Vall, a journalist for Al Jazeera, the camp lacked adequate shelter to handle the influx.
He claimed that they lack the equipment and tents necessary. “They don’t have enough food.
“Homemade – not imposed on us.”
Idris told the UNSC that his government’s peace plan was “homemade – not imposed on us,” in an apparent reference to the Quad-backed proposal for a humanitarian truce.
Sudan’s announcement came toward the end of the meeting, according to Al Jazeera’s Gabriel Elizondo, who was a member of the UN.
In response to concerns posed by a number of UNSC members in private, Elizondo asked Idris if his proposal was realistic on the day of the meeting.
“I believe so,” The Sudanese leader reaffirmed that it is feasible, realistic, and possible.
However, UAE Ambassador Mohamed Abushahab also endorsed the Quad’s request for a humanitarian truce, stating that there was a chance to immediately provide aid to impoverished Sudanese civilians.
