Gerald Hainzl in conversation with Alex de Waal
SUDAN IN CRISIS
Although conflicts have been ongoing in Sudan in recent years, diplomacy has been successful in preventing an all-out war. However, the situation has changed, and Sudan is now embroiled in a conflict as two rival armed forces, the Sudan Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, battle for control of the capital city, Khartoum. The conflict is a result of a power struggle between two warlords, Abdel Fattah al Burhan and Mohamed ‚Hemedti‘ Hamdan Dagolo, who collaborated in the overthrow of President Omar al-Bashir in 2019.
An international mediation process was underway to resolve the conflict, but due to a lack of coordination and divergent interests among the diplomatic actors involved, the endeavour proved to be ineffective – with devastating consequences.
Why hasn’t the US been more eager to support peace mediation and accepted their loss of leverage? What are Russia’s or China’s geopolitical interests in Sudan, and given all this, how should Western diplomacy be remodeled?
Alex de Waal is the Executive Director of the World Peace Foundation affiliated with The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, Massachusetts. He is also Professorial Fellow at the London School of Economics. Considered one of the foremost experts on Sudan and the Horn of Africa, his scholarly work and practice has also probed humanitarian crisis and response, human rights, HIV/AIDS and governance in Africa, and conflict and peace-building.
Gerald Hainzl is Researcher at the Institute for Peace Support and Conflict Management (IFK) at the National Defence Academy of the Austrian Armed Forces.
ZOOM Talk recorded on June 21, 2023.