Sudan: Eastern Community Initiates to End the War
By Thanaa Abdeen
In the cities of eastern Sudan, a number of figures, academics, media personalities, and civil administrations representing the social components of the community are active in drafting a document to bring about peace and halt the ongoing violence in the country since last April.
This initiative is part of several internal and external efforts aimed at ending the war in Sudan, and its organizers hope for its success.
The main goals and general principles of the initiative are focused on ending the war through a political process that addresses the roots and causes of the conflict, preserving Sudans unity, establishing a national mechanism for humanitarian aid and ensuring its fair distribution, reaching an agreed-upon governance system accepted by the Sudanese people, and reforming the military system.
The initiatives agenda, signed by more than 250 individuals, may represent the majority view in Sudan among supporters of peace, stability, and the establishment of a democratic governance system to address the countrys political, economic, and social crises.
However, these efforts have not reached the parties involved in the conflict due to the difficulty of reaching them. This is confirmed by Khaled Ali Noor (Wad Al-Amadah), the coordinator of the Eastern Peoples Initiative for Peace in Sudan.
Noor stated that the initiative faces difficulties in contacting the conflicting parties, and even after the army commander, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, stepped down from leadership (last September), they have not been able to reach him due to his movements outside the country.
Until reaching the concerned parties, the initiatives founders have publicized it for the public to accept or reject.
Noor emphasized that the initiative is distinctive in that it brings together opposing sides in one initiative, but they are united in prioritizing the national interest over partisan and personal interests, which he considers one of the expected reasons for its success.
Some see the east as having suffered from tribal conflicts, and the possibilities of their return are still present. In such a case, it was preferable for the initiatives founders to focus on reconciling the social fabric, rejecting hate speech that has spread in the region. However, Noor has a different vision, as he sees the top priority and general concern now as stopping the war.
He says, In our initiative, we have our own vision for the eastern issue, and there is an initiative proposed by Sheikh Ali Baitai that is acceptable to the majority of the people of the east. As an initiative for achieving peace, we will support it with a scientific paper that gathers all researchers and experts in the field of peace and conflict resolution. We have a clear vision that the proliferation of initiatives will dissipate the effort.
He adds, The first concern now is for peace to prevail throughout Sudan, and then we can turn to the eastern issues related to development, resource sharing, and power-sharing.
