Sudanese Dialogue Committee: Initiative Seeks to Build Trust and Create Conditions for Peace

Khartoum – Sudanhorizon

The Preparatory Committee for Sudanese-Sudanese Dialogue has announced the launch of a national initiative aimed at opening a dialogue process inside Sudan as a means of reaching Sudanese solutions to the crisis and ending the war. The committee stressed that the initiative is based on national consensus and rejects external dictates or tutelage.

At a press conference held today (Sunday) at Al-Salam Hotel in Khartoum, the committee said the initiative comes amid the “severe ordeal” experienced by Sudanese citizens as a result of the war and the destruction of lives and violations of human dignity it has caused, in addition to displacement and refuge, deteriorating services, the loss of personal and public security, and the destruction of infrastructure and public and private property, according to the Sudan News Agency (SUNA).

The committee affirmed that the initiative was launched in response to the voice of the Sudanese people and their aspirations for security, stability, and a dignified life. It noted that ending the war and rebuilding the state must be based on national foundations agreed upon by Sudanese themselves.

The committee explained that its role at the current stage focuses on creating a conducive environment, building trust, and facilitating initial consultations with political, civil, and community forces inside and outside Sudan. The aim is to develop a shared vision regarding the conditions, methodology, and guarantees of the dialogue, while listening to the concerns of all parties, collecting their proposals, and bringing their views closer together.

The committee stressed that the anticipated dialogue must be independent and Sudanese-led, and that national consensus cannot be achieved through exclusion or by imposing a ready-made dialogue process. Instead, it must be built through listening, consultation, and establishing a minimum level of trust around the dialogue’s conditions, methodology, and guarantees.

The committee called on the state to provide the necessary guarantees for holding the dialogue inside Sudan. These include suspending reports and legal cases filed by state agencies against any Sudanese residing abroad because of their participation in consultations or dialogue, or because of an opinion expressed within a political context. It also called for participants in consultations and dialogue to receive temporary procedural immunity preventing criminal proceedings against them from the date of their entry into the country until their departure after completing their participation.

The committee further called for no criminal proceedings to be initiated against anyone because of an opinion they expressed or direct or indirect political conduct during the consultations or dialogue, unless it relates to conduct believed to have been committed or would be committed during the dialogue. It also called for creating a general climate of freedoms for all Sudanese to express their views on the dialogue both inside and outside the meeting halls, protecting the venues and halls where consultations and dialogue are held, and preventing attempts to influence the dialogue’s outcomes through the authority of the state.

The committee addressed the international community, as well as brotherly and friendly countries and regional and international organizations, calling on them to support efforts to create a conducive environment, consultation, and confidence-building, respect the Sudanese will, refrain from interfering in the dialogue process or its outcomes, and support Sudanese people in shaping their future themselves.

The committee affirmed that the state’s required role is to provide guarantees, facilitation, and protection in a manner that preserves the independence of the dialogue and ensures Sudanese ownership of the process, without interfering in determining its participants, agenda, or outcomes.

The committee concluded its statement, read at the press conference, by affirming that the initiative to create a conducive environment for Sudanese-Sudanese dialogue represents a call to rebuild trust among Sudanese people and begin initial consultations on the conditions for a serious, independent, safe, and inclusive dialogue. The process would ultimately lead to a stable transitional period governed by national consensus and free and fair elections that strengthen the people’s authority.

The committee said the Sudanese people are “capable of overcoming their ordeal” and deserve lasting peace and a just, unified state capable of managing its diversity and achieving the interests of its citizens.

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