Al Jazeera correspondents
Khartoum- Sudanese Foreign Minister Mohieddin Salem revealed that his government will conduct an evaluation of its international and regional relations after the war, and they will not be as they were before it. He said that his ministry aborted attempts to impose external solutions on his country and will not respond to any pressure.
Salem told Al Jazeera Net that countries and entities spent huge sums of money to impose external solutions on Sudan, and others sent envoys and representatives to exert pressure to accept those solutions, but Sudanese diplomacy responded to all these attempts, which he avoided disclosing because the nature of the battle that his country is waging requires dealing with some files publicly and others secretly.
According to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, “The Rapid Support Forces and their supporters sought to delegitimize the government and Sudanese state institutions,” while his ministry made effective efforts and resisted these plans at the level of international and regional organizations through calm and diligent diplomacy.
African disappointment
Regarding the steps to end the suspension of Sudan’s membership in the African Union since October 2021, Salem stated that his country feels let down by the position of the Union, which quickly suspended Sudan’s membership before sending a fact-finding mission. Khartoum, along with friendly countries, intensified its movements to restore membership, and progress was achieved in this direction.
He revealed that a mission from the African Peace and Security Council was scheduled to visit Khartoum last February, and Sudan provided a plane for the mission to transport its members from Addis Ababa to the capital via Port Sudan, but the visit was postponed on the advice of the security unit of the Union, “according to their justification,” and the government’s invitation is still open to the mission to visit the country whenever it wants, according to his statement.
Regarding peace initiatives to stop the war in his country, the Foreign Minister stated that Sudan is open to any serious and honest endeavors, and has communication and coordination with three of the Quartet countries that proposed a peace plan, “America, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the UAE.” The government also presented a plan before the Security Council.
Salem stressed that his government “will not accept a country that supports the Rapid Support Forces and supplies them with weapons and foreign mercenaries as an intermediary,” and informed the mediators that any initiative that does not meet the demands of the Sudanese people will not move forward, and that the Quartet promised to cooperate with the United Nations envoy to Sudan, but Khartoum has not officially received any document in this regard.
“Dialogue after the war”
The Minister renewed his government’s adherence to its plan, which calls for the Rapid Support Forces to leave the cities in which they are located in the Darfur and Kordofan regions, place them in camps, disarm them, implement the integration and demobilization program, and deliver humanitarian aid to those affected.
The Foreign Minister believed that the Sudanese-Sudanese dialogue to establish a national consensus should take place after stopping the war and after military arrangements. He said that some foreign parties and forces “provoke the feelings of the Sudanese” by determining who participates and who does not participate in the dialogue, and he considered this “an attempt to rob the Sudanese people and impose guardianship over them and determine their fate.”
Regarding the existence of communication with countries neighboring Sudan through whose territories logistical and military support is passed to the Rapid Support Forces, the Minister of Foreign Affairs said that Sudan has ambassadors in these countries, and that during its participation in the recent work of the United Nations General Assembly, it met with the foreign ministers of Chad and Uganda.
He also held informal consultations with the Ethiopian Foreign Minister during his visit to Addis Ababa to address the African Peace Council, and revealed contacts at various levels with neighboring countries, which were not announced, achieved “predestined” successes despite the great challenges, huge spending, and foreign support for the Rapid Support Forces, he said. He strongly denied the existence of dialogue or any contacts with an Arab country that “sponsors the rebel militia,” as he described it.
