Port Sudan, Sudan — Investing in locally grounded peacebuilding is relatively cheap and has proven results.
Four years into a devastating war, Sudan remains firmly on the diplomatic agenda. Mediation initiatives have multiplied, but a meaningful political breakthrough remains elusive and frustration is mounting.
This bleak outlook assumes peace will only come once a national ceasefire is negotiated among the principal armed actors. That assumption, however, overlooks the reality unfolding on the ground. In Sudan today, there are tangible reductions in violence, but they come from local actors, not formal negotiations.
In the early months of the war, as when international efforts focused on brokering a humanitarian truce, local communities quietly negotiated their own arrangements. Tribal leaders, religious figures, youth networks, and community members stepped in to mediate, often at great personal risk. They facilitated localised ceasefires, non-aggression pacts, humanitarian access, and escape routes for civilians.
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These efforts rarely made headlines. But they saved lives. And they continue today.
They operate within a profoundly fractured landscape. Years of war have entrenched polarisation, with trust eroded and grievances growing. A national agreement may stop large-scale fighting, but it cannot, on its own, repair the fractures within society. Even if a peace agreement were signed tomorrow, Sudan would still be far from real peace. This is why local peacebuilding becomes indispensable.
Saving lives in Darfur
In places like Zalingei in Central Darfur state, we've seen what can be possible. When the war exploded here in 2023, youth trained in peacebuilding stepped forward and worked with elders and other respected community figures to respond. They relocated civilians from frontline neighbourhoods, protected hospitals, and shared practical safety information with communities under fire. They also operated through locally respected intermediaries to engage armed actors, contributing to a localised ceasefire that held for several weeks, saving many lives amid brutal street fighting, and creating a window for the delivery of humanitarian aid and essential services.
Across Darfur, similar dynamics are playing out now with local peace committees and mediation structures, where community actors such as tribal leaders and youth groups are leading the change. Against Darfur's highly volatile background of worsening community tensions, these committees work continuously to de-escalate disputes, agree shared access to resources, and maintain a minimum level of coexistence among communities, often without external recognition but with significant personal risk.
Less visible, but equally significant, is the resilience of the peacebuilding infrastructure that these actors represent. Although divided by front lines, political affiliations, or areas of control, they exchange information and engage with one another in a context where most other forms of connection have broken down. This shared identity as peacebuilders serves as a bridge to sustain relationships that will be critical for any future peace process to take hold.
This is what progress looks like in Sudan's war - not dramatic breakthroughs in far-away capitals, but incremental gains in small villages: a road that remains passable, a clinic with open doors, a conversation that does not collapse into violence.
More resources needed
Unfortunately, these incredible efforts remain under-recognised and under-resourced.
This makes no sense. Investing in locally grounded peacebuilding is relatively cheap and has proven results. It builds on existing capacities rather than reinventing the wheel. It reinforces high-level mediation because locally grounded efforts can reconnect political processes to the realities they aim to address. It also ensures that political agreements are not built in a vacuum but rooted in what is actually happening on the ground.
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After more than three years of war in Sudan, it is time to rethink how we approach peace by broadening our approach to diplomacy. Peace will not come from top-down diplomacy alone. It must also be built from the ground up - by those who continue, even in the midst of war, to choose dialogue over division.
If international efforts are to remain relevant in today's crises, they must recognise the agency of the Sudanese people as central to shaping their own peace.
In Sudan and elsewhere, the foundations of peace are there. They do not emerge from outside ready-made, but they can be fostered by international efforts. It is time to align our support with that reality.
Haoliang Xu, UN Undersecretary General and Associate Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme
