Ali Mohamed Ahmed Osman
Almost four months have elapsed since the Rapid Support Forces rebellion flared in Sudan, resulting in the death, injury or forced displacement of thousands of Sudanese citizens to other Sudanese states or neighboring countries. With the country’s entire infrastructure, including hospitals, schools, water facilities and electricity stations, as well as residential areas in many neighborhoods, either destroyed or looted, the central government’s civil service has been hampered. Meanwhile, in western Darfur, the RSF has committed grave violations that have culminated in a kind of ethnic cleansing.
These horrendous RSF acts have resulted in great suffering and subjugation for the Sudanese, and demand a rapid response after an end to the clashes and the defeat of the rebels. Consequently, the post-rebellion government is entitled to focus on restructuring the country’s social, economic and political fabric, and bringing about national reconciliation, which is not an option at this stage but a necessity for the nation’s survival.
The path toward comprehensive and inclusive national unity and reconciliation necessitates a government-centric approach, encompassing robust community involvement, solid integration and coordination mechanisms among these efforts, and, most importantly, the availability of evaluation tools to effectively monitor their implementation. The lessons learned from the case of Rwanda show that efforts to achieve national unity and reconciliation should be more innovative and rooted in societally integrated approaches, as opposed to several previous peace agreements, particularly the comprehensive peace agreement, which focused its implementation on wealth and power sharing.
Constitutional and legal reforms, as well as socioeconomic welfare programs, are among the most effective methods for achieving inclusive national unity and reconciliation. Contrary to this, the lessons learned from Rwanda have demonstrated that the persistence of certain community attitudes and behaviors, such as conflict (genocide) ideology, ethnic stereotyping, psychological and physical wounds that remain unhealed, poverty, and a lack of restitution policies, will impede the process toward reconciliation and the restoration of human dignity. It is a fact that the events in Rwanda were genocide, which is a distinct circumstance from the situation in Sudan, where an insurgency and an attempted coup were undertaken by the RSF. Nevertheless, the nature of the ensuing violations committed by RSF personnel revealed that the conflict has deep-seated causes, particularly regarding the events in west Darfur, which were influenced by ethnic factors. Furthermore, the looting of normal Sudanese people’s houses reflects the in-depth interest of the perpetrators in retaliation against the rich people of Khartoum, as they claimed.
Another argument that underscores the crucial need for national unity and reconciliation is that the rebellion of the RSF should not be viewed as a separation from the political division and polarization that have characterized Sudan since its independence. In the beginning, there are a few pressing issues that require immediate resolution. These include providing basic safety and security measures and protecting civilians; promoting mental health and psychosocial well-being among the affected citizens; providing basic services such as water and sanitation, health, and primary education; and restoring core government functions such as basic public administration and public finance. To accomplish this, the essential characteristics of the initial step should place emphasis on the involvement of nongovernmental organizations.
The availability of a platform that will allow Sudanese, especially youth from various political and social groups, to exchange their views on national unity, reconciliation, and other social and development issues in a process of national dialogue is crucial; it is also crucial that such a national dialogue be strengthened if preceded by the voluntary repatriation of the refugees from neighboring countries. The promotion of national unity and reconciliation necessitates the integration of all armed forces, including the remnants of the RSF, into the Sudanese Armed Forces to prevent future occurrences of this rebellion and military coups. Furthermore, the adoption of national policies and institutions aimed at enhancing national unity and reconciliation in the country is crucial, as are constitutional, legal and educational reforms that promote the same reconciliation objectives. Moreover, to prevent polarization between political ideologies, these efforts will be undertaken by national independent experts’ committees and institutions.
Experiences from all over the world have demonstrated that poverty reduction initiatives are fundamental to any reconciliation efforts, along with other programs designed to protect the most vulnerable groups of people, such as orphans, people living with disabilities, widows, elderly people and the poor. It is important to note that economic revitalization plays a critical role in reconciliation efforts, as it not only addresses the wounds and divisions of the past, but also lays the foundation for a prosperous and inclusive future. It creates a conducive environment for equal growth and shared benefits by fostering economic opportunities and uplifting vulnerable communities. Economic revitalization improves the material well-being of individuals and communities through job creation, entrepreneurship, and investment in infrastructure. It also fosters social cohesion and bridges the gaps created by historical injustices. Promoting economic equality and giving all individuals a fair chance to succeed are some of the things that promote a society built on trust.
To conclude, it is evident that such mechanisms aiming at fostering national unity and reconciliation would typically be time-consuming and heavily dependent on the international community’s support, be it in financial or technical aspects. Therefore, the significance of international organizations, donors, regional organizations such as the African Union, Intergovernmental Authority on Development, and Organization of Islamic Cooperation, as well as Sudan’s neighbors, is paramount in facilitating this transition. The greater the utilization of home-grown ideas, the greater the ownership of these mechanisms will be by the Sudanese people, and consequently, the more successful and sustainable reconciliation process we will achieve.
