Sudanese ambassador hopes Trump’s return will help end war in her country

The Diplomat Sudan's ambassador to Spain, Maha Ayoub, has expressed her confidence that Donald Trump's return to the White House will have a positive impact on the situation in the country, which has been mired in a war with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since April 2023. In a meeting with journalists at her residence in Madrid last Friday, the ambassador also warned of the potential for destabilization that this “terrorist group” represents for the Sahel region and even Europe. With Trump's election as US president very recent, Maha Ayoub noted that this fact "is going to create a huge change at the international level" and was convinced that "there will be more interest in what is happening in Sudan", especially since Washington "has not acted to its full potential" during Joe Biden's term, Europa Press reports. "The Trump Administration had a different position regarding the Middle East and Africa, one that was more in favor of our interests," said Ayoub, who headed the Department for America of the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs during the tycoon's first term, between 2017 and 2021, a position she held temporarily after Biden's arrival. The ambassador recalled that, following the overthrow of Omar Hassan al Bashir in 2019, the Sudanese authorities took a political turn, marked by a rapprochement with the United States and Israel, even joining the 'Abraham Accords' in 2020, in which the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan established relations with the Asian country. The inclusion of Khartoum in these historic agreements, criticized by the Palestinian Authority, came after Trump announced that the country would be removed from the list of countries sponsoring terrorism, where it had been since 1993, following an agreement to pay compensation to relatives of victims of several Al Qaeda attacks. Ayoub stressed that "Sudan expressed its good will to achieve peace in the Middle East (by taking this step), given that at that time Sudan was interested in returning to the international community and being a partner in the peace process," a fact evidenced in an exchange of official visits between Sudan and Israel. “The Israeli government is perfectly aware of what Sudan has sacrificed for this,” argued the ambassador, who expressed her desire to see a peace process open to “discuss the two-state solution” once the conflicts in the Gaza Strip and Israel are over. “We hope it will be very soon,” she said. Risk of regional destabilization Ayoub called on the international community to adopt a firmer stance to address the conflict, which has already left some 8.8 million internally displaced people and more than three million refugees in neighboring countries, according to the latest data published by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). She said that the war is being prolonged due to the “continuous flow” of military, diplomatic and logistical support to the RSF, especially from the UAE, which “has supported the militia from the beginning,” and Chad, although she also pointed to the role played by Ethiopia. “We believe that this has to stop. People have to understand that what the mercenaries do is criminal activity,” said the ambassador, adding that “the UAE has to be held accountable.” “If they were not arming the militia, they would not have access to very sophisticated weapons that have been confiscated by the Army,” she explained. The ambassador said that in recent months around 70 flights have been detected arriving in Chad with weapons, food and equipment, from where this material is sent across the border to reinforce the group’s capabilities, which led Khartoum to file a “formal complaint” with the UN. “Ethiopia is also involved alongside Chad,” she said, before linking this situation to the bilateral tensions around the Grand Renaissance Dam built by Addis Ababa on the Blue Nile River. “It is expected that their interests are not the same as ours and perhaps they are interested in a change of regime in Sudan,” she stressed. Therefore, Maha Ayoub warned that “although Sudan is far away, the Sahel is close to Spain, it is very close to Europe.” “This should be important for Europe, because it is an issue that concerns it,” she stressed, before pointing to the danger arising from the increase in crime and human trafficking caused by the militia's activities. “This militia is not someone you can negotiate with. It is not just a threat to Sudan, but to the entire Sahel region. They have a lot of weapons, they are not a disciplined army, they are selling their weapons, they are using them for organised crime and they are affecting other countries,” she said, while stressing that this insecurity “will spread to West Africa”. Along these lines, Ayoub said that many of the “mercenaries” who make up the RSF “are not even from Sudan”, but “from West African countries”. “Most of them do not speak Arabic, they speak languages that do not exist in Sudan. They join the militia because it is a place where they can earn some money”, she explained, also indicating that “it is in Europe’s interest to address this problem and work closely with its allies”, including the United States, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Peace talks blocked The ambassador ruled out the possibility of reactivating talks with the RSF due to their failure to comply with the agreements reached in May 2023 in the Saudi city of Jeddah, which prevent contacts if there is no prior step by the group to materialize these clauses. “It is very difficult to sit down with people who have been murdering and torturing your family. It is very difficult for people to forget these things,” she said, before stating that “the militias are entrenching themselves by committing more atrocities.” “At the beginning of the war it would have been easier (to negotiate), but now it is very difficult,” acknowledged Ayoub, who also noted that “the international community cannot pretend that the militia and the Government are equal.” “I don’t think the Sudanese people will accept negotiations with the militia,” she said, although she expressed his desire that the military route “not be the only solution” and ruled out the creation of an international coalition to combat the group being on the table for now. “I don’t know how effective these types of international coalitions are,” she said, recalling that groups such as Islamic State, Boko Haram and Al Shabaab “are still there.” “If it were useful, Sudan would do it, but (…) we have not seen positive results from this type of international coalition.” “There is no history of success,” she argued. She also praised the advances made by the Army in its recent offensives in Khartoum, North Khartoum and Omdurman, mostly in the hands of the rebels since the outbreak of the conflict. “They are advancing steadily. Slowly, but they are advancing,” she explained, before stating that the military “have crossed the bridges” over the Nile to reinforce their positions. Finally, she denounced the killings, destruction and looting committed by the group since the beginning of the war, including the sale of the country's historical heritage. In recent weeks, the RSF has intensified its killings in the states of Gezira and Darfur, with hundreds of civilians killed. "The Sudanese people are not only losing their present, since we are refugees. They are losing their future, since children cannot go to school and have no future, and their past, their heritage," she said. And, after acknowledging that Sudan is mired in "an unprecedented humanitarian disaster," she added: "It is an enormous tragedy."

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