AN ETHICAL, UNAMBIGUOUS MESSAGE TO THE SOUTH AFRICAN COMMUNITY ON HOW TO SUPPORT THE SUDAN:

The people of Sudan are experiencing a humanitarian crisis of unprecedented scale due to ongoing political instability, conflict, and natural disasters. The United Nations reports that over 3 million Sudanese have been displaced, and more than 14 million people are in dire need of humanitarian aid. 

Sudanese in South Africa are reaching out to South Africans to offer support. South African activists and communities are well-known for encouraging their government to take principled and ethical positions towards global issues. 

Please reject any message on the Sudan that downplays the role of the RSF militia (under the leadership of Hemedti) or undermines the importance of the current government, whatever its flaws. Also please reject any voice that downplays the role of the UAE in the war. 

Reject any group or political organisation that is self-serving and does not represent the voices of the people in the war zones. These groups also have narrow political agendas, which are based on a message of hate. Do not be deceived by their slogans, such as "stop the war" used by Sumoud, under the leadership of Hamdok (who incidentally now resides in the UAE), As Noam Chomsky says: "That's the whole point of good propaganda. You want to create a slogan that nobody's going to be against, and everybody's going to be for. Nobody knows what it means, because it does not mean anything." By adopting this slogan, Hamdok has access to world stages and high level board rooms, where he still fails to represent the Sudanese voices. In South Africa, he has had an audience with President Mbeki as an example. The leader of the militia, Hemedti, has had an audience with President Ramaphosa. 

In addition to the above, please support us by:

1. Understand and communicate that this is not a war between two generals; this is a war against the Sudanese people and the Sudanese state, it is an attempt to eradicate Sudan as we know it, it is a form of genocide – and indeed, in some areas, it is outright genocide;

2. Why? Like other African conflicts, land, gold and global interests are at the heart of this conflict; any distractions in minutiae, day-to-day political positionalities, arguments, political divisions between Sudanese confuses the message to the South African community and the activists that may support us;

3. There are political positions that are strategic and political positions that are based on long term principles – being unable to distinguish the two is highly problematic;

4. The modus operandi of the Janjaweed militia is terror, rape, destruction and theft; why would a South African leader ever meet with Hemedti? Why would South African leaders meet with, and support, people like Hamdok or organisations like Sumoud who continue to confuse the message to the global community by avoiding to condemn the RSF and the UAE?

5. Sudanese people fleeing the Janjaweed find refuge in the army-controlled zones, why is the South African government not outright, openly supporting the current Sudanese government and the Sudanese embassy that represents them in Pretoria?

6. Is the army complicit? Of course it is! This is the strategic position that we need to take at this particular juncture in history – a dismantling of the army now means a dismantling of the Sudanese state;

7. The priority now is to maintain the integrity of the Sudanese State, our only way to do that is to support the current de facto government.