From Polarisation to Inclusion: A Call for a National Solution in Sudan
By Engineer Saeed Ibrahim Mohamed
At the heart of Africa’s geography and on the edges of international interests, Sudan today stands at a critical crossroads, gripped by internal and external tensions that have built up over decades of fragmentation and have now reached a breaking point. The nation has become an open arena for anyone wishing to extend a hand or plant a boot.
The current Sudanese situation is not merely a crisis of government versus opposition, nor simply a conflict between the army and a militia. Rather, it is a deeply entrenched structural suffocation, where regionalism, tribalism, competing regional interests, and the intersecting agendas of global powers seeking influence over a terrain that is no longer raw or unformed — but hardened, volatile, and scarred by bitter awareness and deceptive experiences — all collide.
First: The Polarised Domestic Front… The Illusion of the Shrinking Cake
It has become clear that part of Sudan’s elite has fallen into the trap of dividing up the “state cake”, failing to realise that this very cake has become rotten and no longer lends itself to equitable distribution. Attempting to divide power and wealth through regional and tribal quotas can only yield more resentment and deeper fragmentation. Sudan, with all its immense diversity, cannot be governed by the logic of “who came first takes the most”, but by a national project that includes all — without exception or favouritism.
Second: The Intervening Outside World… and the Deals-in-Waiting
Regional and international powers are far from innocent in what is unfolding. Some intervene in openly suspicious ways, while others hide behind slogans of peace and humanitarian aid. The truth is that Sudan has become a testing ground for new maps, not unlike the experiments in state fragmentation seen in Somalia, or the externally engineered chaos inflicted upon Ukraine and the Congo.
But what Western policymakers fail to grasp — or wilfully ignore — is that Sudan is not a land without identity. It is a country with a long memory of resistance, a deeply rooted cultural identity, and a spirit that does not bow to dictates. The Sudanese — wherever they may stand politically — will not be ruled by a “signed deal”, nor subdued by “conditional aid”.
The US Embassy in Khartoum, with its long history, knows well that this country cannot be governed from abroad — however fragile or fractured it may appear.
Third: The Way Forward… Inclusion, Not Polarisation
The path out of this tunnel does not lie in summoning foreign actors to market imported solutions, but in awakening the national will buried deep within this great people. The solution begins with the conviction that Sudan does not merely need a new government — it needs a new governing mindset:
A mindset that embraces diversity rather than weaponising division.
A mindset that includes youth and experts, instead of sidelining them in favour of armed actors.
A mindset that sees the tribe as a social component, not a political platform.
A mindset that redefines relations with the outside world in a way that safeguards sovereignty, not justifies dependency.
Conclusion: A Project of Dignity, Not a Charter of Surrender
What Sudan needs today is not more conferences or endless rounds of fruitless negotiations. What we need is a national project of dignity, shielded by the popular will, that recognises only Sudan’s sovereignty over its choices and its future.
A project born from the very womb of this painful reality — not from the notepads of international organisations, nor the recommendations of foreign ambassadors. A project that understands peace not as a table for negotiators, but as a way of life for the people.
Sudan is not Ukraine.
It is not the Congo.
Sudan is… Sudan.
Shortlink: https://sudanhorizon.com/?p=6483