“In Sudan, weapons cross borders more easily than humanitarian aid”

A time when a new Minister of Foreign Affairs has been appointed, as parliamentarians we are, committed to the defense of the Sudanese people, victims of the fierce war waged by the paramilitary rebel forces and the Sudanese army to conquer or retain the power in Sudan, let us congratulate the new tenant of the Quai d’Orsay but alert him to the need to strengthen France’s influence on the ongoing armed conflicts in the world and in particular on the Sudanese civil war.

France has repeatedly demonstrated its support for the Sudanese people since the courageous revolution they led in 2019 to end the dictatorship and pave the way for a democratic transition in their country. Barely a few months after this revolution, the President of the French Republic received the Sudanese Prime Minister in Paris and pledged to provide Sudan with assistance for the democratic transition and the country’s economic recovery. Then, in 2021, France organized an international conference of heads of state and government in support of Sudan’s democratic transition, which marked this country’s return to the community of nations.

If the outbreak of conflict in April 2023 unfortunately dashed Sudan’s hopes for a democratic transition (temporarily, we hope), France has not dried up its support for the Sudanese population. Paris notably hosted the last international humanitarian conference for Sudan and its region, which made it possible to raise 2 billion euros in humanitarian aid commitments for its population.

Twelve million displaced

But France, accompanied by its European neighbors, must absolutely continue its efforts because the conflict is not losing its intensity and is pushing Sudan into a serious humanitarian crisis. While there are reports of more than 20,000 deaths, 12 million displaced people and the onset of famine in North Darfur, humanitarian aid is not reaching the populations who need it most.

Its delivery is prevented by floods, delivery blockages organized by the two belligerents and the threat of attacks against airlifts, with both camps now in possession of drones and missiles.

It is, in fact, documented that many foreign weapons are circulating in Sudan, including in Darfur, where an arms embargo has been in force since 2004 and has just been renewed by the United Nations Security Council.

Amnesty International, for example, revealed this summer that recently manufactured weapons and ammunition from China, the United Arab Emirates, Russia, Serbia, Turkey and Yemen had been identified in videos filmed by two parts in conflict. Imported weapons are often civilian weapons, nominally intended for hunters or shooters, or blank weapons which are then easily converted into lethal weapons in Sudan. But they can also be armored personnel carriers delivered, for example, by the United Arab Emirates to the Rapid Support Forces.

Protecting asylum seekers

By providing valuable logistical assistance to the belligerents, these industrialists and arms exporters are prolonging the duration of the conflict and fueling the suffering of the Sudanese. It is therefore essential that France and its European partners put pressure on the countries concerned to cut off the resources of both camps.

This task falls in particular to the new Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, who will have to work, in coordination with the President of the Republic, to make France’s voice heard more so that the interests of the Sudanese civilian population finally resonate on the international scene.

As members of the Franco-Sudanese friendship groups in the National Assembly and the Senate, we will be mobilized to support the work of the ministry, in particular through our government control mission. Our expectations are high because the needs of the Sudanese are immense!

We will particularly ensure that France respects its financial commitments to the Sudanese and continues them in 2025. We also hope that our country will protect Sudanese asylum seekers, particularly Masalit, who are victims (with other non-Arab communities) of ethnic cleansing in Darfur, according to Human Rights Watch, orchestrated by paramilitary rebel forces.

Arms embargo

We also call on our diplomacy to use all its influence at the UN to obtain, in the coming months, the extension to the entire Sudanese territory of the arms embargo, the strengthening of the means of the mission of establishment of the facts of the Human Rights Council as well as the implementation of actions for the protection of civilians and Sudanese heritage.

As Sudanese activist Alaa Salah said: “The bullet does not kill, what kills is the silence of the man. » Our country must never be an actor or accomplice in the silence of the international community on this conflict.

France must act so that the 47 million Sudanese no longer feel abandoned and left to their own devices, so that they can survive and regain hope for a decent future. We must prevent the Horn of Africa from being entirely destabilized by this conflict, prevent entire communities from disappearing from our world forever and prevent the history of Sudan from being summed up in a succession of extreme violence and genocides. .

Let us no longer allow the Sudanese civilian population to be destroyed by their own leaders but let us help them obtain “freedom, peace and justice”, as their demonstrators chanted in 2019!