A) SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Arab Center DC – The Muddled Diplomacy of Sudan’s Tripartite Mechanism

17/6/2022: Arab Center DC – The Muddled Diplomacy of Sudan’s Tripartite Mechanism, by Kholood Khair

 Founding manager of Confluence Advisory think-tank Kholood Khair identified challenges facing the UNITAMS, AU and IGAD tripartite mechanism attempting to end Sudan’s political impasse.

Firstly, key pro-democracy groups refuse to participate in talks considered to legitimise the coup, with the failure to engage the resistance committees demonstrating the UN’s “inability” to recognise Sudan’s political shift to broad-based, coalition-led political change.  

Secondly, Khair argues that UNITAMS’ failure to consult frequently neglected Sudanese stakeholders means it has failed to grasp Sudan’s political complexity or power dynamics.

Thirdly, the incorporation of the AU at the military’s behest - under the guise of “African solutions to African problems” - reflects autocrats co-opting anti-colonial refrains when pressured.

Finally, Khair argues that the mechanism’s treatment of concerns regarding justice and accountability for ongoing violence as a “backdrop to the process, rather than central to it” culminates in perceptions of its support for the generals.