The exiled leader of Sudan’s largest civilian coalition is seeking European Union and UK support for a US-led peace process, as French mediation between the warring parties on the ground falters.
Former prime minister Abdalla Hamdok, who now leads the Somoud coalition, met officials, prominent think tank members and Sudanese communities in Oslo, The Hague and Paris, before meeting German Foreign Ministry officials on Tuesday.
Later this week in the UK, he will meet the Minister for Development Jenny Chapman, NGOs and members of the Sudanese diaspora.
Khalid Yousif, a member of Somoud and a former cabinet minister of Sudan’s short-lived civilian government, said support for their cause was tangible despite the long road to peace ahead.
“I feel determined,” Mr Yousif told The National. “We are advocating for the UK and EU to play a more active role in supporting the truce proposed by the Quad and an adapted humanitarian response to support a political process that will restore path to a democratic transition.”
Mr Yousif served in Sudan’s civilian government, formed after the toppling of military dictator Omar Al Bashir in 2019 – but the administration was ousted in a military coup in 2021.
Now, he and members of other political parties say ceasefire efforts should go hand in hand with a transition back to democracy. “We call for a political process that stands shoulder to shoulder with the ceasefire track,” Mr Yousif said.
Somoud has publicly backed the US-led road map to peace in Sudan, developed with Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt, in a group known as the Quad.
The peace plan calls for a three-month humanitarian truce, leading to a permanent ceasefire, and a nine-month transitionary period that would establish a civilian-led government and end military rule.
The Quad seeks to bring the two warring parties – the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) – to the negotiating table. The SAF has so far rejected the terms of the truce.
More than 150,000 people are believed to have been killed in the war in Sudan, which broke out in April 2023, and about 12 million have fled their homes in what the UN has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
But there are concerns that talks aiming for a ceasefire could allow former members of Al Bashir’s autocratic regime to remain in power.
The Quad’s peace plan makes clear that “Sudan’s future cannot be dictated” by groups linked to the Muslim Brotherhood – a point of contention for the SAF. For members of Somoud, that issue is personal as many were arrested and jailed by figures from the former regime.
Mr Yousif said the coalition had engaged with European officials on Islamic extremism in Sudan. “We also talked about the negative role of the [National Congress Party] and the Islamic movement and made a call for a stronger position against these extremist groups,” he added.
“Because of their strong presence in the security sector, they are opposing any peace initiative and dividing society with hate speech, sectarian divisions and running a big disinformation campaign supported by the International Muslim Brotherhood."
It comes as a separate Swiss-hosted peace track led by the French charity Promediation faces backlash over its inclusion of the NCP and Islamist forces in its consultations. The NCP is the party of deposed president Al Bashir.
Yasir Arman, leader of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement North, said it would suspend its participation in the peace talks, accusing the French mediator of legitimising the former ruling party.
The view from Paris is that a peace process needs to be as inclusive as possible, and that the presence of the Muslim Brotherhood in Sudan’s future is a choice for the Sudanese people to make.
They believe that the two main perpetrators are the generals of the SAF and RSF, who need to be held accountable for war crimes.
