{"id":20117185,"date":"2025-05-30T17:01:28","date_gmt":"2025-05-30T15:01:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dabangasudan.org\/?p=20117185"},"modified":"2025-05-30T17:01:50","modified_gmt":"2025-05-30T15:01:50","slug":"former-au-and-un-envoy-only-sudanese-can-save-sudan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dabangasudan.org\/en\/all-news\/article\/former-au-and-un-envoy-only-sudanese-can-save-sudan","title":{"rendered":"Former AU and UN envoy: \u2018Only Sudanese Can Save Sudan\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Former African Union and United Nations official Abdul Mohammed has urged the Sudanese people to take ownership of their country\u2019s path to peace, warning that international mediation alone cannot resolve the devastating war.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an\u00a0open letter<\/a>\u00a0titled \u201cOnly Sudanese Can Save Sudan\u2014Others Can Help<\/em>,\u201d published yesterday in the\u00a0Sudan Transparency and Policy Tracker<\/a>\u00a0, he called for a grassroots movement driven by the people, not political elites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis war is not merely a military confrontation,\u201d Mohammed wrote. \u201cIt is a war on your dignity, your identity, your communities, and your future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The letter, released to mark\u00a0Africa Day<\/a>\u00a0on May 25, comes as the war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) continues to displace millions and cause widespread suffering. Attempts at a ceasefire through talks in\u00a0Jeddah<\/a>,\u00a0Addis Ababa<\/a>,\u00a0\u00a0and in\u00a0Geneva<\/a>\u00a0have failed to end the violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mohammed warned against placing hopes in \u201celite-led processes<\/a>\u201d that he says have repeatedly failed the Sudanese people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is naive to keep repeating elite-led processes that have failed again and again,\u201d he stated. \u201cWhen peace comes from below, it can rise to the heights of history. When it is imposed from above, it collapses under its own weight.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, he called for a Sudanese People\u2019s Peace Conference, bringing together ordinary Sudanese people, including youth,\u00a0women<\/a>, professionals, religious leaders, and the diaspora.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such a conference, he argues, should be the starting point for a People\u2019s Peace Agenda, a home-grown roadmap informed by those most affected by the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSudan\u2019s destiny cannot be subcontracted,\u201d the former envoy wrote. \u201cForeign actors may assist, but they cannot repair what they did not build. No outsider can love Sudan more than its people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mohammed outlined seven steps to building a national peace movement. These include countering\u00a0social polarisation<\/a>, confronting the legacy of Sudan\u2019s \u201cforever war,\u201d and using social media to amplify grassroots voices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGuns destroy bodies; polarisation destroys nations,\u201d he warned. \u201cSudanese must not only stop the war\u2014they must rebuild the meaning of being Sudanese.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The letter ends on a note of hope, invoking the power of past people-led movements from Montgomery to Soweto, and reminding Sudanese of their own history of\u00a0peaceful resistance<\/a>.<\/p>\n