Brussels — Sudan's war is entering an even more dangerous phase as fighting spreads to the heavily contested east, spelling more atrocities and mass displacement. Diplomats should seize a new opportunity to halt the spiral into state failure and stimulate direct talks between the belligerents, the International Crisis Group* says in a new appeal.
"The stakes could hardly be higher. Regional leaders, Washington and other partners need to meet the moment, before Sudan passes the point of no return, leaving a failed state that could take decades to repair," the group says in a statement published this week.
QUOTE: Regional leaders, Washington and other partners need to meet the moment, before Sudan passes the point of no return, leaving a failed state that could take decades to repair.
"Sudan's future, and much else, is at stake," the report asserts. "East African nations led by Kenya and Djibouti are pushing for direct talks between the main belligerents, but a meeting scheduled for December 28, 2023 was postponed. This latest diplomatic effort represents a chance, albeit a fading one, to arrest spiralling conflict in this state of 45 million seated at a geostrategic crossroads."
In its appeal, the International Crisis Group points out: "One way or another, the states with the most influence over the parties - i.e. the enablers who are arming them and the African and global powers with the greatest heft in the region - need to come together in a coordinated push to keep Sudan from further collapse and ease the suffering of its people.
"The situation clearly requires something that, as Crisis Group previously observed, has been all too lacking: a major, coordinated, high-level diplomatic effort involving the outside powers that wield the greatest influence in the region," the group says.
* The International Crisis Group, based in Brussels in Belgium, is an independent organisation 'working to prevent wars and shape policies that will build a more peaceful world'.
