Ramadan and stopping the fighting in Sudan

Last Friday, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 2724 calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities in Sudan during the month of Ramadan, which has just started. Both sides of the conflict — the Sudanese Army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) — were called upon to reach a solution through dialogue and ensure the removal of any obstacles to the flow of humanitarian aid, including across borders and across lines of contact. The resolution also expects both sides to comply with their obligations to protect civilians and civilian objects under international law, and under the Jeddah Declaration of Commitment to Protect the Civilians of Sudan.

The respective leaders of the army and RSF actually signed the commitment in Jeddah on 11 May last year to protect civilians in Sudan. The agreement included seven clauses that focused on facilitating the delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians and their protection, and the parties’ commitment to international humanitarian law and human rights law. According to a statement by the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs following the signing of this commitment, the signatories agreed to withdraw military forces from hospitals and medical clinics, and to allow the dead to be buried respectfully. The statement also noted that following the signing of the agreement, the Jeddah talks will focus on reaching an effective ceasefire for a period of up to about ten days, in order to facilitate these actions, which ultimately did not happen.

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Then, on 7 November, the last round of the Jeddah talks between the Sudanese Army and RSF ended without a new agreement, although the talks were expected to advance at least one step forward towards a long- or short-term ceasefire in order to implement the 11 May agreement. However, they were content instead to issue a statement by the Saudi ministry stating the commitment of both parties to facilitate the transfer of humanitarian aid to civilians trapped by the fighting, and their agreement to engage in a joint mechanism for communication between themselves, led by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, to address obstacles to the delivery of such aid. On that day, people said that just as the Jeddah agreement signed by both parties on 11 May had not been adhered to, there was no indication of their intention to adhere to this unsigned commitment, which was only mentioned in a statement by the Saudi government.

It is true that Resolution 2724 sends a strong message to both parties expressing the need for an immediate cessation of hostilities during the month of Ramadan. It is also true that when it adopted this resolution, the Security Council may have believed that both would consider the religious significance of the blessed month of Ramadan, especially since in battle, they both declare “God is Great” when attacking. However, it is also true that the fighting actually began in Ramadan last year.

There is nothing to suggest that either party is interested in the religious significance of this holy month, or anything else linked to religion.

When the Jeddah Declaration was signed last May, the war was not yet a month old, nor was it a disaster for Sudan, in terms of civilians dying of starvation or due to the lack of medicine, or the fighting in terms of the comprehensive destruction of the country’s infrastructure and vital facilities. The disaster had not reached the level it is at now, which is one of the worst humanitarian catastrophes in modern times.

I said at the time that the agreement would remain merely ink on paper in the absence of internationally-known mechanisms to create safe and protected corridors to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians, meet their needs and save their lives. I stressed that without providing these mechanisms, any commitment to address obstacles to the delivery of aid will be meaningless words in the mediators’ notebooks.

OPINION: Sudan’s humanitarian catastrophe under the RSF militia

What I fear most today is that the Security Council resolution will also be just a paper exercise and not be translated into action on the ground. Clearly, the two parties will not be deterred by any UN or regional resolution unless it is backed up by action in accordance with international law, to put pressure on them and impose a ceasefire. This would include preventing the flow of weapons and ammunition from abroad, freezing assets and accounts in international banks, and imposing the repositioning of the warring forces and sending monitors to ensure compliance with the resolution. Of course, the approval and implementation of the required mechanisms needs international and regional participation, especially from neighbouring countries such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and from countries with a direct relationship to the army and RSF.

I appreciate the efforts of the UN Security Council, the Jeddah Platform, the African Union and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) to stop the war in Sudan.

However, failure threatens these efforts as long as they are not accompanied by practical mechanisms to implement them. The main responsibility for this has to be shouldered primarily by the Sudanese Army and Rapid Support Forces and their devastating war in pursuit of a decisive military victory that will not happen. Moreover, that responsibility has to be shared by the Sudanese civil forces, which have hesitated and failed to achieve a united platform with a unified vision of how to stop the war and the subsequent political process. The international and regional communities also have to take some blame, due to their inability to make a real breakthrough to stop the fighting and confront the humanitarian disaster in Sudan.

Nevertheless, the solution will not come from outside Sudan, which is why I have been calling for all blocs in the country to unite in one, coordinated body in rejection of the war, with the inclusion and participation of everyone apart from the remnants of the regime and those calling for the continuation of the war. The blocs have been called upon to address practical activity in the political and humanitarian fields, and coordinate with international and regional efforts to exert as much pressure as possible on both sides to end the war. This body cannot be reduced to “progress” alone, but it is definitely an essential component of it.

For the people of Sudan to be left to face their fate alone amid this massive amount of destruction and killing is a major crime that will never be erased from the pages of history. Its repercussions will last for generations.

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This article first appeared in Arabic in Al-Quds Al-Arabi on 10 March 2024

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.