Rights activist: Ceasefire top priority for Sudan’s women

Sudanese women’s rights activist Naemat Koko says a comprehensive ceasefire is essential to protect lives, ensure unrestricted humanitarian access, and allow Sudan’s civilians to determine the country’s political future without the warring parties.

A comprehensive ceasefire in Sudan is the top priority for women across the country, according to political and human rights activist, development policy researcher, and member of the Central Committee of the Sudanese Communist Party, Naemat Koko, who says ending the war is a fundamental right of Sudanese people to life and security, not merely an appeal to the warring parties.

Speaking to Radio Dabanga, Koko said a ceasefire was the highest priority for protecting the lives of Sudanese people inside the country. She added that it was also at the forefront of the demands of Sudanese women and activists involved in feminist and human rights movements.

She stressed the need to open safe humanitarian corridors without conditions once a ceasefire had been agreed, with aid distributed under the supervision of international institutions and with the participation of Sudanese civil society organisations. This should replace reliance on institutions she described as illegitimate and unrecognised by either side in the conflict.

Humanitarian assistance must reach every part of Sudan, not only areas directly affected by fighting, she said, given the widening displacement crisis and growing humanitarian needs.

Criticism of political dialogue

Koko criticised calls for political dialogue, citing previous dialogue initiatives during the rule of Jaafar Nimeiri and the former Islamist government, known as the Ingaz regime, which she said had failed to achieve the desired results.

Genuine political dialogue was the right of the Sudanese people and their civil and political institutions that had not been involved in shedding Sudanese blood, she said.

Koko described both sides in the war as “war criminals” and called for them to face trial. She said they should have no place in Sudan’s future political landscape.

She urged an immediate ceasefire and the opening of humanitarian aid routes, arguing that both parties were obliged in practice to take these steps. The Sudanese people, she said, should determine the course of the country’s next phase.

Koko stressed that Sudan’s political future must belong to its people, allowing them to determine their own choices through civilian and political institutions, independently of the parties to the war.