Representatives of the Principles Declaration Forces met today (Saturday) in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, with Pekka Haavisto, the personal envoy of the UN Secretary-General for Sudan, to discuss developments in the political landscape, efforts to end the war, and the launch of a credible peace process.
The representatives conveyed to the UN envoy their position on the call by army commander and Chairman of the Sovereignty Council Abdel Fattah al-Burhan for political dialogue. They stressed that their rejection was not a principled opposition to dialogue itself, but rather to the nature of the proposed framework and the risks it poses of entrenching a political and geographic reality created by the war.
In line with this position, they explained that any political process launched from one of the centers of power belonging to the warring parties, or managed through arrangements that reproduce unilateral control over the state, would not constitute a genuine pathway to resolving the crisis. Instead, it could pave the way for legitimizing the existing division and consolidating parallel de facto authorities.
In contrast, the Principles Declaration Forces believe that “the required dialogue must be part of a broader process aimed at ending the war, protecting civilians, addressing the humanitarian crisis, restoring the unity of state institutions, and ultimately establishing a unified civilian democratic government.”
The UN envoy was also briefed on developments within the civilian anti-war movement and the growing number of forces rejecting polarization between the two sides of the conflict. The meeting also discussed the outcomes of the consultative meeting held in Addis Ababa on August 22 and 23, which highlighted growing convergence among civilian and political forces around the foundations for ending the war and designing a broader and more representative political process.
The meeting further addressed the position of anti-war forces toward the Quintet mechanism, as well as existing reservations regarding its working methodology and the mechanisms for determining and representing the parties involved in the political process.
Representatives of the Principles Declaration Forces stressed that these reservations did not mean rejecting engagement with the Quintet mechanism. However, they said that before any participation, clear agreement was needed on the nature of the political process, its participants and terms of reference, while ensuring the independence of civilian decision-making and preventing any single party from monopolizing representation of anti-war forces.
The Principles Declaration Forces reiterated their readiness to engage with all regional and international efforts aimed at ending the war on the basis of preserving Sudan’s unity, preventing the entrenchment of de facto authorities, and paving the way for a sustainable civilian democratic transition.
