{"id":55417,"date":"2025-10-08T03:30:32","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T00:30:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/?p=55417"},"modified":"2025-10-08T03:30:32","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T00:30:32","slug":"ambiguous-diplomacy-sudan-between-a-grey-discourse-and-a-regional-power-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/08\/ambiguous-diplomacy-sudan-between-a-grey-discourse-and-a-regional-power-project\/","title":{"rendered":"Ambiguous Diplomacy: Sudan Between a Grey Discourse and a Regional Power Project"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Sabah Al-Makki<\/strong><\/p>\n

Diplomacy is not merely words spoken on podiums\u2014it is the mirror of sovereignty when storms rise. At a time when Sudan faces a subtle attempt at disintegration under the banners of \u201cmediation\u201d and \u201cpeace,\u201d the battle is fought with language before weapons; words themselves become a frontline. When diplomats choose a foggy, ambiguous tone over clarity, sovereignty becomes the first casualty of rhetoric.<\/p>\n

Not all wars are fought with weapons; some are waged with words, statements, and the language that redefines crime until the criminal loses his name. In a recent interview on Al Jazeera Mubasher, former Sudanese Foreign Minister Ambassador Ali Youssef presented what he believed to be a \u201crational\u201d analysis of the war in Sudan, dressing it in the guise of a \u201ccivil war\u201d by comparing it to earlier internal conflicts in the country. But does the former minister truly see this war as a civil war\u2014and not as an external aggression waged through local proxies, where a foreign-backed militia fights a national army defending its sovereignty?<\/p>\n

In doing so, the minister did not offer a balanced political analysis but embodied Sudan\u2019s diplomatic crisis at its most ambiguous: speaking of a homeland being slaughtered with a tongue too timid to name the butcher. In an existential war against a foreign-sponsored militia, political discourse becomes a test of allegiance before it is an expression of opinion; language itself turns into a battlefield where meanings are contested as fiercely as territory.<\/p>\n

Thus, the former minister\u2019s interview exposed the widening gap between a forthright national discourse and a grey diplomacy that seeks to please everyone in a moment that tolerates no equivocation.<\/p>\n

Who Is the Minister Speaking To?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ambassador Ali Youssef appeared on Al Jazeera Mubasher embodying the \u201cneutral diplomat\u201d persona\u2014speaking in a circular, noncommittal tone, \u201csplitting hairs while trying to heal wounds,\u201d as Sudanese say: many words, no stance; diplomatic phrases that touch every side without belonging to any.<\/p>\n

His rhetoric aligned neatly with certain Arab capitals that prefer silence about the UAE\u2019s role in Sudan\u2019s war and promote \u201cneutrality\u201d as a safe political position. Yet that supposed neutrality ignores a fundamental fact: Sudan is fighting an imposed war, not a quarrel between partners over power.<\/p>\n

His words came across as a mix of appeasement and denial\u2014neither a defense of Sudan nor an honest reading of reality\u2014as if spoken from abroad, not from within the country.<\/p>\n

The question that immediately arises: Who is the minister speaking to? To a nation fighting for survival? To an Arab audience seeking comfort in a language that offends no one? Or to a regional environment that shapes his worldview? Does he speak for the conscience of the state he once served, or for a timid diplomacy afraid to upset the capitals that still treat Sudan as a \u201cfile,\u201d not a nation?<\/p>\n

At a moment when he should have spoken as a statesman aware of the cost of sovereignty, the former minister chose the language of accommodation. He described the UAE\u2019s participation in the \u201cQuartet\u201d as positive\u2014though Sudan has officially classified the UAE as an aggressor state and cut diplomatic ties with it.<\/p>\n

He ignored the fact that the UAE is effectively leading the war on Sudan from behind the curtain\u2014arming, funding, and staffing the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) with mercenaries and weapons. He also ignored how Abu Dhabi orchestrates regional encirclement through neighboring regimes, facilitating arms routes via Chad, Libya, the Central African Republic, Ethiopia, and South Sudan; mobilizing Kenya and Uganda; and even recruiting mercenaries through Bosaso in Puntland and Somaliland\u2014all the way to Colombian fighters flown in by Emirati aircraft.<\/p>\n

By overlooking these realities, the minister seemed blind to the regional project directed against Sudan\u2019s army and people. He ignored the blood of civilians in Darfur and the Sudanese public\u2019s refusal to whitewash those responsible for igniting this war.<\/p>\n

The \u201cQuartet\u201d Paradox: Roadmap or Blueprint for Influence?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The minister began where others wanted him to start\u2014with the \u201cQuartet Statement\u201d involving the U.S., Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE\u2014calling it a \u201croadmap worth building upon.\u201d He even described it as an extension of Sudan\u2019s own \u201cnational roadmap.\u201d But that statement alone exposes the gulf between national logic and dependency. How can a national roadmap mirror one drafted abroad? And how can a plan be credible when one of its signatories finances the militia fighting the Sudanese army?<\/p>\n

The minister admitted that the UAE is \u201csubject to criticism\u201d yet claimed its inclusion was \u201cuseful\u201d because it would \u201ccommit it to what it signs.\u201d Since when do sponsors of war police themselves? This is not diplomacy\u2014it is self-deception. The aggressor cannot become guarantor simply by changing titles.<\/p>\n

Most troubling is the clause on \u201chalting military support to warring parties.\u201d The minister read it as an implicit warning to the UAE to stop arming the RSF, though the text does not mention the UAE and equates the national army with the insurgents. It effectively criminalizes any military aid to Sudan\u2019s own forces while shielding illicit flows to the militia. In essence, it asks the Sudanese army to stop defending its country while the RSF continues to receive external arms under the radar.<\/p>\n

This misreading exposes the heart of the problem: mistaking coercive diplomacy for goodwill. The clause that forbids Sudan from arming itself while ignoring mercenary weapons is nothing short of a codified erosion of sovereignty disguised as peace.<\/p>\n

Language as a Tool of Legitimization<\/strong><\/p>\n

When asked about the term \u201cwarring parties,\u201d the minister called it \u201ca diplomatic expression\u201d that doesn\u2019t imply moral equivalence between the army and the militia. But words are not innocent\u2014they define legitimacy. Once aggression against Sudan is reframed as a \u201cconflict between parties,\u201d the crime vanishes linguistically, and the national army is recast as just another \u201cSudanese faction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Notably, such language is never used to describe Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine or Israel\u2019s occupation of Gaza. The terminology is political, not neutral\u2014crafted to dilute the aggressor\u2019s responsibility and equate the state with the insurgent.<\/p>\n

Thus, the phrase \u201cwarring parties\u201d is not a neutral term; it is a subtle instrument for stripping Sudan of legitimacy and preparing the international audience to view its sovereignty as negotiable.<\/p>\n

Peace Without a Balance of Power<\/strong><\/p>\n

The minister repeated that \u201cthere is no sustainable military solution,\u201d adding, \u201cunless a quick victory is possible.\u201d In that paradox lies the essence of ambiguity\u2014denial and admission in the same breath. But peace is not achieved by wishful thinking; it is enforced by power. Even the United States, which preaches diplomacy, maintains global peace through military dominance. Israel does the same under the slogan \u201cpeace through strength.\u201d Why then should Sudan alone be asked to disarm while the militia continues to receive foreign support?<\/p>\n

True peace follows the battlefield, not precedes it. Every historical precedent\u2014from World War II to Bosnia\u2014proves that negotiations succeed only after a decisive shift in the balance of power, not before.<\/p>\n

Calls for premature dialogue, while militia-controlled airports still receive foreign planes, merely freeze the imbalance and extend the conflict under the guise of peace.<\/p>\n

The Mirage of Integration and Forgiveness Without Justice<\/strong><\/p>\n

The minister declared: \u201cThere can be no peace while the RSF exists as a parallel force.\u201d A patriotic stance, it seemed\u2014until he added that the solution lies in \u201ca unified professional army incorporating all armed groups.\u201d Does that include the RSF itself? If so, this is not reform but amnesty without accountability\u2014forgiving atrocity under the banner of unity.<\/p>\n

To integrate those who burned Khartoum and massacred civilians is to embed corruption into the state\u2019s core. Such discourse is not about peace, but about resurrecting the threat in uniform.<\/p>\n

The Absent Perpetrator<\/strong><\/p>\n

The minister spoke of \u201cthe destruction of infrastructure\u201d without naming the destroyer\u2014as though Khartoum were struck by natural disaster, not rockets. Erasing the subject is not a linguistic slip; it is complicity with a narrative that equalizes aggressor and defender.<\/p>\n

Who bombed the hospitals, looted banks, and torched neighborhoods? Not the Sudanese army\u2014but those now being courted under the name of \u201cnational reconciliation.\u201d To erase the perpetrator from speech is to erase accountability from history.<\/p>\n

Against Exclusion\u2014even for Betrayal?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The minister rejected \u201ctotal exclusion\u201d and called for \u201cdialogue with everyone.\u201d But what does inclusion mean if it extends to those who funded and waged war? Genuine reconciliation must begin with justice; otherwise, it becomes a transaction upon the corpse of truth.<\/p>\n

By echoing the phrase \u201cIslamists in power,\u201d the minister blurred definitions and revived partisan language long exploited by anti-Sudan lobbies abroad. His call for an \u201cinclusive Sudanese-Sudanese dialogue\u201d implicitly reopens the door to the very figures aligned with foreign agendas\u2014an act of political whitening for betrayal.<\/p>\n

Reconciliation without accountability is not healing\u2014it is rewriting treason as tolerance.<\/p>\n

Diplomatic Missteps and the Crisis of Professionalism<\/strong><\/p>\n

At the 2025 Munich Security Conference, in a session on \u201cThe Continuing Nightmare: Sudan\u2019s Political and Humanitarian Crisis,\u201d what could have been a platform to expose RSF atrocities turned into a courtroom against the Sudanese Armed Forces. The Sudanese foreign minister sat silently as the stage was dominated by anti-Sudan voices\u2014including former UN envoy Volker Perthes\u2014without objection or withdrawal.<\/p>\n

Such silence was not prudence but paralysis. Whether from ignorance or intent, it revealed a deeper institutional flaw: a lack of professional training in political and media security.
\nIn diplomacy, what is unsaid can be as damaging as what is done. The microphone, in times of war, is no less a weapon than the rifle.<\/p>\n

Sovereignty Cannot Be Managed Through Ambiguous Diplomacy<\/strong><\/p>\n

The minister\u2019s interview revealed not a communication lapse but a crisis of vision. \u201cFog diplomacy\u201d\u2014neither position nor principle\u2014mirrors the discourse of dependency that equates the state with the militia and the aggressor with the mediator. Sudan today does not need polite neutrality; it needs clarity. In war, neutrality between truth and falsehood is itself falsehood. Sovereignty is not maintained through flattery but through resolve.<\/p>\n

To speak in grey tones amid bloodshed is not diplomacy\u2014it is betrayal dressed as balance.
\nDiplomacy, in times of war, is not a courtesy; it is an instrument of defense.
\nAnd those who fail to wield the word have no right to speak in the name of a nation bleeding for its survival.<\/p>\n

Source: Brown Land \u2013 Arabic Edition<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Sabah Al-Makki Diplomacy is not merely words spoken on podiums\u2014it is the mirror of sovereignty when storms rise. At a time when Sudan faces a subtle attempt at disintegration under the banners of \u201cmediation\u201d and \u201cpeace,\u201d the battle is fought with language before weapons; words themselves become a frontline. When diplomats choose a foggy, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46578,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55417"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55417\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55418,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55417\/revisions\/55418"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}