IT'S A GUNRUNNER STATE
Damilola Banjo
• December 1, 2024
PASS BLUE
A screen grab from a UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs video in a refugee camp in Chad for Sudanese escaping the war in their country, Nov. 30, 2024.
Russia vetoed a Security Council draft resolution in mid-November that could have brought desperately needed relief and protections for the millions of civilians contending with the relentless violence in their country.
Sudan approached Russia recently to help it block a British-backed United Nations Security Council draft resolution calling for a ceasefire in the civil war across the North African country because it was dissatisfied with the text. Sudan officials also took personal offense from the process itself, PassBlue has found.
A source close to the negotiations over the text told PassBlue that some members of the Sudanese government, led by Lt. Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, were aggrieved that Britain, the penholder on the Sudan file in the Security Council, did not consult Sudan’s foreign office and that the suggestions made by the Sudanese envoy at the UN were rejected in the final draft.
The draft, supported by 14 of the 15 Council members, was vetoed on Nov. 18 by Russia, surprising diplomats in the chamber. In its explanation, Russia said the resolution wrongly assumed the responsibility of the government of Sudan for protecting Sudanese citizens.
Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia’s top deputy permanent representative to the UN, said that only the Sudanese government has the right and responsibility to work with the UN on how it wants the conflict resolved. Russia also accused Britain, a former colonizer of Sudan, of meddling in the country’s affairs. The meeting was chaired by David Lammy, the UK’s foreign minister, who called the veto a “disgrace.”
Polyanskiy later posted on X, formerly Twitter, “Shame on you, the UK, also for claiming that the Sudanese government supports the draft which was clearly debunked at the meeting by the representative of this country.”
The Sudanese acting foreign minister, Ali Youssef Ahmed Al-Sharif, thanked Russia for blocking the resolution. He praised Russia for supporting Sudan’s sovereignty and its “right to preserve their national institution and defend their people.”
“Protecting civilians is the most important duty of states, and it does not need to be imposed on us by external forces according to visions that do not take into account our reality and needs,” he posted on X in Arabic.
According to a source who asked to remain anonymous, the foreign minister, who is new to the post, was also offended that he had not been invited by the UK to take part in the Council session on Nov. 18, especially because his British counterpart was leading it.
Russia’s embassy to Sudan is based in Port Sudan, apparently next door to the foreign ministry building. Russia is reportedly investing in the African country’s gold mines. Sudan’s ambassador to Russia also reportedly thanked the country for vetoing the draft resolution.
The Sudanese government is opposed to any intervention from the UN, such as a peacekeeping force, as well as any broad international effort that recognizes the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) — the opposition — as an equal party in the war or that inadvertently legitimizes the militia. Instead, the government, known as the Transitional Sovereign Council, wants the RSF to be labeled as a terrorist organization.
The failed resolution drafted by the UK and Sierra Leone requested Secretary-General António Guterres to develop a compliance mechanism to carry out the Jeddah Declaration commitments, which the Sudanese government opposed. Sudan’s envoy to the UN, Al-Harith Idriss Al-Harith, said it would accept only a solution led by the Sudanese government.
“The narrative currently adopted that this war is between two parties is one of the reasons we have not reached an agreement,” Al-Harith told Council members after the vote on Nov. 18. “We must take into account the specificity of the conflict and the efforts by the country’s concerns in peacebuilding.”
The ambassador accused the international community of imposing a solution on Sudan through “pressure and cohesion.” Yet, one African diplomat in the Council told PassBlue that although negotiations on the draft text had been tough, Sudan signed off on it theoretically. (Al-Harith said he had “no comment on the veto” for this story.)
James Kariuki, Britain’s deputy permanent representative to the UN, told the General Assembly on Nov. 26 that the draft resolution respected the “sovereignty, unity, independence and territorial integrity of Sudan.”
“We engaged extensively and listened carefully to the views of the Sudanese Mission when developing the text,” he said. “Nothing in the text compromised the sovereignty of Sudan.”
The war in Sudan erupted in April 2023. It has been sustained by a steady flow of arms from third-party nations, leading some analysts and humanitarians to now call it a proxy war. In an exclusive interview with PassBlue in June, Al-Harith said the war would end if the United Arab Emirates (UAE) stopped sending weapons to the RSF, but Abu Dhabi is not the only third-party country fingered in the prolonged war. (UAE denies supplying weapons.)
Nevertheless, reports that include satellite imagery have documented flights from the UAE delivering weapons to RSF-controlled areas in Sudan and neighboring Chad. The New York Times reported that some shipments have allegedly been disguised as medical aid.
Iran, Egypt and Russia have also been fingered for international interference. Iran has been providing military support to the Sudanese Armed Forces, or SAF. Evidence includes repeated flights of Iranian aircraft into Port Sudan, now General Burhan’s base, offloading drones and large crates suspected to contain munitions. Egypt has also backed the SAF, using ground routes to transport supplies across their shared border.
The continuous supply of weapons has intensified the conflict, rendering mediation efforts useless. Nathaniel Raymond, the executive director of the Yale School of Public Health’s Humanitarian Research Lab, said that each time one supply line is disrupted, another emerges, ensuring that both SAF and RSF remain equipped for prolonged warfare.
“It’s time the Security Council name those who have kept the war going,” Raymond said.
Satellite imagery from researchers at the Yale lab, he said, showed a troubling increase in logistical abilities for receiving and deploying weapons in Sudan. Despite international awareness of these activities, enforcement mechanisms to stop arms transfers remain weak.
Damilola Banjo is a staff reporter for PassBlue who has covered a wide range of topics, from Africa-centered stories to gender equality to UN peacekeeping and US-UN relations. She also oversees video production for PassBlue. She was a Dag Hammarskjold fellow in 2023 and a Pulitzer Center postgraduate fellow in 2021. She was named the 2020 Nigeria Investigative Journalist of the Year by the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism and was part of the BBC Africa team that produced the Emmy nominated documentary, “Sex for Grades.” In addition, she worked for WFAE, an NPR affiliate in Charlotte, North Carolina. Banjo has a master’s of science degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and a B.A. in communications and language arts from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria.
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