MAY 31, 2024 – Over 600 Sudanese civilian political and civil society leaders met this week in Addis Ababa, for a 'historic' conference to launch a united anti-war coalition. Excluded from negotiations with the military since the conflict began over 13 months ago, former government members, political parties, resistance committees and representatives of civil society gathered for the founding conference of the Civilian Democratic Forces against the war, known as Taqaddum.
With a diverse range of Sudanese attending from over 24 countries, it was touted as the country's largest anti-war coalition. Taqaddum unequivocally condemned violations by both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and discussed key issues such as security sector reform, transitional justice and local governance.
Funded by international donors, including the US, UK, Japan, Germany, Canada, Norway, the Netherlands, and France, the conference was the first step towards creating a civilian political movement united against the war. The real challenges lie in the implementation of these goals and there are still concerns around the legitimacy and representativeness of the body.
"Even with the difficulties and challenges that Sudanese people are going through, to have such a gathering with more than 600 Sudanese men and women, youth, it is fantastic. The spirit of resistance and resilience is not broken,” said Al-Hadi Idris, leader of the Sudan Liberation Movement-Transitional Council (SLM-TC).
“We do not claim to represent all of Sudan, [however] this is the broadest and largest ever Sudanese gathering and we are ready to speak on behalf of the Sudanese people and we already have the legitimacy [whilst] those who sit in Port Sudan have no legitimacy," he added.
The question of legitimacy is central to the Taqaddum project and has already been a criticism of the group. Former Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, who was elected as the leader of the group, stressed the first priority is to preserve Sudan’s unity and encouraged Taqaddum to embrace a range of perspectives. Representation has been a central concern, prompting quotas to be set for 40% women and 40% youth representation. A cursory glance around the conference hall, however, suggested room for improvement.
"Taqaddum received its legitimacy from the people’s revolution of 2018," said Dr Idris. [Hamdok] “got his legitimacy from the revolution as millions of Sudanese people went to the street and removed the dictatorship of Omar Al-Bashir and brought the government of the revolution." However the transitional government was never elected by the Sudanese people but was instead appointed by military coup leadership.
Taqaddum has a hard road ahead in gaining legitimacy from the Sudanese public who has not yet voted for this group. Some youth expressed frustration that they were not given space to substantively contribute to the drafting of the youth agenda and had instead been invited to participate in order to “rubber stamp” proposals.
If Taqaddum is serious about gaining the support of the wider public, women and youth must be given enough seats at the table and a significant role in creating and implementing future policy. It also needs to mend reputational damage wrought following the signing of an agreement with Hemedti, which led to allegations that Taqaddum was the civilian-wing of the RSF.
The RSF, SAF, and their allied militias such as the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) -Minawi and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM)-Jibril, were notably absent from the convening. However, there were many other armed groups in attendance including the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) Al Hilu who attended as observers. The group’s Secretary General, Amar Amun Daldoum heralded the conference as an opportunity to find common ground and underscored the need for a secular, non-aligned state.
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