What Kind of Dialogue Does Sudan Need?

Ahlam Mohamed Ibrahim
Amid the various initiatives and meetings currently being proposed under the banners of peace and an end to the war, it has become essential to distinguish between a dialogue that addresses an immediate crisis and one that lays the foundations for a nation’s future.
The dialogue we seek is not a situational dialogue aimed at reaching temporary arrangements related to the ongoing war. Rather, it is a comprehensive national dialogue intended to produce the fundamental principles and foundations upon which Sudan’s future will be built: how the country is governed, how its diversity is managed, how its institutions are constructed, and how lasting political and social stability can be achieved.
This is the rationale behind the concept of a “Sudanese-Sudanese dialogue that excludes no one” — a dialogue that brings together all components of Sudanese society and national forces, regardless of their political orientations or perspectives. Major national issues cannot be resolved in the absence of key stakeholders, nor through the exclusion of any party from the national landscape.
Today, Sudan faces challenges that extend far beyond the war itself. What is required is not merely an end to the fighting, but agreement on a national project capable of addressing the root causes of the crisis and establishing new foundations for the relationship between the state and society, between the centre and the regions, and among the country’s various political and social constituencies.
In our view, many of the meetings held outside Sudan are driven by a specific objective: managing the current conflict or reaching political arrangements related to it. Meanwhile, the larger question concerning Sudan’s comprehensive future remains absent or postponed. Furthermore, some of these processes reflect external visions and agendas seeking to shape Sudan’s future according to their own perceptions, rather than embodying a genuinely inclusive national will.
We believe that the Sudanese state is engaged in a struggle that goes beyond a mere internal conflict, and that preserving Sudan’s sovereignty and the independence of its national decision-making must be the starting point for any serious and responsible dialogue. Consequently, any political process that does not begin with respect for this sovereignty, and that fails to accommodate all Sudanese without exception, will remain incapable of delivering lasting peace and the stability to which the country aspires.
Sudan does not need a dialogue among those who already share the same views; it needs a dialogue among those who differ. It does not need temporary settlements as much as it needs a broad national consensus capable of laying the foundations for a stable and just state that embraces all its citizens.
That is the dialogue in which we believe, the dialogue to which we call, and the dialogue for which we work: a dialogue that shapes the future, rather than serving merely as a passing response to the crises of the present.

Shortlink: https://sudanhorizon.com/?p=14543