South Sudan president takes lead for ‘an all-inclusive inter-Sudanese dialogue’

Juba, the capital of South Sudan, received a delegation from the Civil Democratic Forces alliance (Tagaddum) last week, in conjunction with the arrival of a delegation from the Sudan Liberation Movement faction led by Minni Minawi (SLM-MM). South Sudan negotiator Dhieu Mathok calls on the warring parties and their supporters ‘to sit down and talk’.

The two delegations held talks with President Salva Kiir Mayardit, and with the South Sudanese mediation team, headed by Counsellor Tut Galuak, security affairs advisor to the South Sudanese president and head of the mediation team that led to the Juba Peace Agreement between the Sudanese government and a large number of rebel movements factions in the South Sudanese capital in October 2020.

The Tagaddum delegation was headed by Retd Maj Gen Fadlallah Burma, interim head of the National Umma Party, as Tagaddum chairman Abdallah Hamdok did not join the delegation to Juba for personal reasons.

Dhieu Mathok, South Sudanese Minister of Investment and member of the Sudanese crisis mediation team, spoke to Radio Dabanga yesterday about the situation in Sudan.

Mathok stressed that the security of South Sudan and all other countries neighbouring Sudan is linked to the situation in Sudan. “The war between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has a direct impact on South Sudan, represented by the widespread displacement of our people in Sudan, in addition to the tribal overlap in the border areas. The disturbance of the economic bonds between the two countries also poses a real threat to us.”

“These factors have pushed South Sudan to play its natural role in the region in order to stop the war in Sudan, our second country,” he said. “As soon as the war erupted between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) [on April 15 last year], President Salva Kiir, commissioned by the Horn of Africa’s Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), intensively engaged with the parties to the war in order to stop the violence, in particular after the Sudanese government decided to freeze its IGAD membership.”

South Sudan seceded from Sudan in July 2011 after a referendum in South Sudan held six month before. The two countries share a border of more than 2,000 kilometres, of which control was tightened by Juba in January.

‘Major divisions’

Mathok further told Radio Dabanga that “Juba has noticed major divisions among the Sudanese street and society. “Even the political forces are divided between those who support the SAF and those who support the RSF, while others have taken a position of neutrality.

“These positions do not help to stop the war,” he stressed. “All Sudanese political forces must unite behind the call to stop the war, now and not tomorrow, so that we can save Sudan from falling further into the abyss.

“The divisions among the Sudanese have reached the point of refusing to sit with each other. This did not even happen in the SPLM war led by John Garang. They were fighting and when they met, they talked,” the South Sudanese minister said. “But now, if you talk to someone from the SAF side, RSF supporters will accuse you of betrayal, it is the same the other way around. This behaviour must stop and everyone must sit down and talk in order to save Sudan.”

Minister Dhieu Mathok said he regrets the repeated failure of the US-Saudi led peace negotiations in Jeddah, “although the Jeddah platform has great chances to stop the war, but for many reasons it did not succeed in reaching its goal to stop the violence in Sudan so far. As for the IGAD initiative to end the war, we have seen that the Sudanese government suspended its membership of the organisation. South Sudan is part of IGAD and President Salva Kiir is acting on behalf of the IGAD chairperson.

“Our president has assumed large responsibility in this regard, because South Sudan, with overlapping relations and interests with the countries of the region, and with Sudan in particular, cannot let the fire continue to rage in Sudan. The violence may also affect South Sudan, and we have to act.”

‘In short, President Salva Kiir wants a Sudanese-Sudanese dialogue, and before talking to the SAF, he wants to see the Sudanese street positioned in one voice against the war’ – Dhieu Mathok

Dialogue

President Salva Kiir Mayardit has extended an invitation to the various Sudanese political groups. On Friday, he met with representatives of Tagaddum (meaning progress in Arabic), consisting of the Sudanese Congress Party, the National Umma Party, the SPLM-Democratic Revolutionary Movement, and other members of the mainstream Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC-Central Council*).

The South Sudanese president is also expected to meet with a delegation of the Forces for Freedom and Change-Democratic Bloc (FFC-DB) soon, Mathok added. “In short, President Salva Kiir wants a Sudanese-Sudanese dialogue, and before talking to the SAF, he wants to see the Sudanese street positioned in one voice against the war.”

As for the efforts to involve rebel commanders Abdelaziz El Hilu and Abdelwahid Nur in the Sudanese-Sudanese dialogue in order to stop the war, Mathok said that “all parties, including Brother Abdelwahid and Brother Abdelaziz, are in favour of this dialogue if it will lead to a final solution.

“We also heard voices from various Sudanese political forces, including the Taqaddum alliance, calling for a meeting with El Hilu and Nur in order to reach common ground, as well as for other political groups such as the FFC-DB, to move towards a comprehensive peace.”

Border opened for fleeing people

South Sudan has opened its borders since the early days of the war to refugees from Sudan without conditions, Mathok said. “We have received thousands of Sudanese and non-Sudanese citizens residing in Sudan and are now dealing with this situation.

“There is great cooperation with United Nations agencies and humanitarian aid organisations, although the repercussions of the war are very significant. More than two million South Sudanese nationals were residing in Sudan, and many of them were forced by the war to return to South Sudan where they have nothing,” he explained.

“Despite close cooperation with organisations, the services provided are not enough, which prompted the government of South Sudan to contact brotherly countries for help, especially in the Arab region. We found some response from visited Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, but the situation still needs a lot of effort.”

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* The mainstream FFC has been prone to divisions since its formation in early January 2019. The National Umma Party (NUP), the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), and the Socialist Arabic Ba’ath Party, which already witnessed internal splits during the reign of Al Bashir, fragmented further due to opposing views and standpoints on talks with the military. The Communist Party of Sudan withdrew from the FFC in the end of 2020. The Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party left the coalition two year later. The FFC-CC now  consists of several (split-off) political parties and new groups such as the SPLM–Democratic Revolutionary Movement (DRM)​. Tagaddum has requested the Ba’ath Party and the Communist Party as well as the SPLM-N faction led by Abdelaziz El Hilu and the SLM of Abdelwahid Nur to join the new alliance. The communists declined.