Questions and Doubts About the Exclusion of the Arab League from the Geneva Meetings

Cairo – Sudanhorizon – Sabah Musa

The United States continues to pressure the Sudanese army to join the ceasefire talks in Geneva. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken had a phone call with General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Chairman of the Sovereign Council and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, last Wednesday, reiterating the importance of participating in the ongoing peace talks in Switzerland to fully implement the Jeddah Declaration on the Protection of Civilians in Sudan.

Deadline for Participation

In the Jeddah meetings between the Sudanese and U.S. governments, the latter gave the Sudanese army until the 18th of this month to join the talks. However, the Sudanese side refused to participate in the negotiations that began Monday in the Swiss capital, citing unmet demands from the Jeddah agreement in May 2023, expressing reservations about the UAE’s involvement as an observer, and questioning the rationale behind moving the negotiations from Jeddah to Geneva.

Arab League’s Discontent

The Geneva meetings included the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Switzerland, the African Union, and the United Nations. However, the Arab League, a key player in resolving the Sudanese conflict, was noticeably absent from the invitation list. In a statement released Thursday, the General Secretariat of the Arab League expressed its displeasure at not being invited to participate in the Geneva efforts, which are seen as a follow-up to UN Security Council Resolution 2736 from June 13th. The Secretariat pointed out that paragraph eight of the resolution mandates coordinated engagement with the African Union, the Arab League, and other key regional actors to advance peace in Sudan.
The statement reflects the Arab League’s strong commitment to peace and security in Sudan, considering it a crucial Arab country and a bridge between the Arab and African worlds. The League reaffirmed its close monitoring of ongoing efforts and initiatives to stop the ongoing war in Sudan, including resuming the Jeddah talks in Geneva to reach a ceasefire. This follows a mandate from the League’s Council at various levels.
The General Secretariat reiterated its firm position on Sudan, emphasising the need for harmonised Arab, African, and international actions to achieve peace in Sudan while fully respecting its security, sovereignty, territorial integrity, and the preservation of its national institutions, particularly the Sudanese Armed Forces. It also called for fully implementing the Jeddah Declaration, signed on 11 May 2023.

Questions and Doubts

The U.S. pressure on the Sudanese army to participate, along with internal and external appeals urging their involvement, builds on some positive outcomes from the Jeddah talks between the governments. The Rapid Support Forces’ quick response to attend and the political forces aligned with the militia calling for participation raises doubts. Further, the Arab League’s exclusion—despite its calls for coordinated Arab, African, and international efforts to achieve peace in Sudan—has sparked scepticism. The League stresses the need to respect Sudan’s security, sovereignty, territorial integrity, and the preservation of national institutions, particularly the Sudanese Armed Forces, and calls for fully implementing the Jeddah Declaration signed on May 11, 2023. This exclusion raises suspicions about the negotiations, leading to questions such as: Why a new platform? Why the haste? Why are the Rapid Support Forces eager to participate? Why is the civil forces coordination group “Taqaddam” so eager to join? And, most importantly, why was the Arab League not invited?
The exclusion of IGAD may be understandable due to its perceived bias in the crisis, yet the African Union and the United Nations were invited. Why did the U.S. deviate from its commitment to coordinate peace efforts in Sudan, as discussed during the consultative meeting in Djibouti last month, which involved a large gathering of regional and international actors, including the U.S.? Behind the scenes of these meetings, there were hidden international power struggles over each party’s vision for solving the Sudanese crisis, highlighting the intensity of the regional and international conflict over the solution.

The U.S. Made a Mistake

Ambassador Salah Halima, Deputy Chairman of the Egyptian Council for African Affairs and former Assistant Foreign Minister of Egypt believes that the exclusion of the Arab League from the Geneva talks could be due to the U.S.’s alignment with the Rapid Support Forces, the UAE, Israel, and Ethiopia. He told “Sudan Horizon” that this exclusion might be linked to U.S. discomfort with the League’s stance on Gaza and its differing views on resolving the Sudanese crisis. The League’s vision centres on preserving Sudan’s national institutions, particularly the armed forces, and implementing the Jeddah Declaration fully, which may not align entirely with U.S. objectives.
Halima stated that the U.S. made a mistake by not inviting the Arab League and should rectify this since Sudan is a full member of both the League and the African Union. He emphasised that the League has every right to be displeased by its exclusion and called on the U.S. to clarify its reasons. Halima further urged the U.S. to adopt a balanced approach in its relations with all parties involved in the Sudanese issue, warning that this selective strategy only intensifies regional and international polarisation.

Political Horizons

Salah Halima also expressed scepticism about the Geneva negotiations achieving the desired results. He noted that the U.S. aims to secure positive outcomes in the Sudanese crisis before the American elections. He suggested that there might be an opportunity for progress if there are improvements in addressing humanitarian conditions, which should take precedence over merely stopping the fighting. Halima emphasised that halting the war must accompany a political horizon to resolve the crisis. He proposed that political, ceasefire, and humanitarian tracks should proceed with a Sudanese-Sudanese dialogue that inclusively represents all components of Sudanese society to address the situation. He stressed the need for a political agreement to form a transitional government with national competencies. He suggested that any meetings between the military and the Rapid Support Forces should ensure no military or political factions dominate the process, advocating for a clear separation between political and military powers.

Deliberate Exclusion

On the other hand, Dr. Amin Ismail Majzoub, a security and military expert, believes that the U.S. deliberately ignored the Arab League’s invitation. He told “Sudanhorizon” that the Arab League is aligned with Sudan in resisting external aggression rather than internal rebellion. Majzoub argued that the League had identified the conspiracy early and expressed it in its meetings on the Sudanese crisis. He views the U.S.’s disregard for the League as a significant error that will become apparent in future reconstruction and internal political arrangements. He highlighted Egypt’s role in hosting Sudanese factions at the Cairo Conference, which significantly impacted the subsequent successful talks in Addis Ababa under the African Union’s high-level mechanism. Majzoub suggested that the exclusion of the Arab League represents an attempt to mischaracterise the Sudanese crisis, which he believes is an external invasion and demographic change attempt rather than an internal rebellion or political conflict.