Kampala — Sudan's Radical Change Forces' Alliance confirms that it has been in contact with the Quintet initiative (the African Union, the United Nations, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the League of Arab States, and the European Union) and the office of the UN envoy about Sudan's political process, but insists that the contacts do not give any external party a mandate to represent it or speak on its behalf.
In a statement issued by its foreign relations office on Tuesday, the alliance said its contacts with regional and international parties came as initiatives to address the war in Sudan increased. However, it stressed that Sudan's future must be determined by the will of the Sudanese people, and that any political settlement should respect Sudan's sovereignty, unity, and independence of decision-making.
The alliance said its contacts with the Quintet and the UN envoy's office had focused on presenting its views on how the political process should be designed, including who should take part, and how it should proceed. Its position, it said, was that Sudanese people should have full ownership of the political process, while the role of external actors should be limited to facilitating and supporting efforts to reach a sustainable solution.
In the statement, seen by Radio Dabanga, the alliance said it had exchanged messages with representatives of the Quintet on 28 July and had sent them documents and memoranda setting out its assessment of the roots of Sudan's crisis and possible ways out of it.
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It stressed that contact with external actors did not represent a retreat from its opposition to any settlement that reproduced the forces or policies that, according to the statement, had contributed to the war and the current crisis. Nor did it amount to seeking external legitimacy, it said, but rather provided a means of presenting the alliance's position to international and regional actors.
The alliance welcomed any efforts that could help stop the war, protect civilians, deliver humanitarian assistance, and end violations, as well as ensure justice and accountability. But it warned against using such efforts as a means of imposing political arrangements on the Sudanese people.
It said a ceasefire alone would not be enough to end the crisis, and called for a political process that addressed the political, social, economic, and institutional causes that had led to wars and coups. Such a process, it said, should lay the foundations for a democratic civilian state based on the rule of law and equal citizenship, and rebuild state institutions on national and professional foundations.
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The alliance also called for wider participation in any discussion about Sudan's future, including representatives of the revolutionary forces, communities affected by the war, women, and young people. It said the political process should not be restricted to armed groups, political elites, and international and regional actors.
Ali Mahjoub El Nadif, spokesman for the alliance's foreign relations office, confirmed that internal and external contacts were continuing, while maintaining what he described as Sudanese independence in decision-making and the right of the Sudanese people to determine the country's future.
Editor's note: This article has been translated from Arabic with the assistance of artificial intelligence, and subsequently reviewed and adapted by a human editor before publication.
