No military victory will end Sudan’s war, says former PM Abdalla Hamdok

Sudan's former Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok has labelled the military's recent push to form a new government and reclaim territory, including the capital Khartoum, as meaningless in ending the country's two-year civil war.

According to Abdalla, no military victory can bring lasting peace to the nation currently embroiled in a brutal civil war, calling the continued fighting a result of deep-rooted inequalities and unresolved political tensions.

"Whether Khartoum is captured or not, it's irrelevant. There is no military solution to this. No side will be able to have outright victory," Abdalla said in a rare interview with the Associated Press during the Mo Ibrahim Foundation conference in Morocco.

Abdalla, 69, who briefly served as Sudan's first civilian Prime Minister during the country's transitional period after the 2019 ousting of longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir, stepped down in early 2022 following a coup and political instability.

Since then, Sudan has spiralled into one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, with fighting between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) killing at least 24,000 people and displacing around 13 million, including four million refugees.

Despite the army's retaking of Khartoum in March and the appointment of Kamil al-Taib Idris as Prime Minister in April, the RSF remains active in Darfur and Kordofan, and fighting continues.

Abdalla, now leading a civilian coalition from exile, dismissed the new government as an illusion, saying peace can only be achieved through a ceasefire and inclusive democratic dialogue that addresses Sudan's current issues.

He also warned against expecting the military to usher in democracy and criticised foreign interference, calling for all countries supplying weapons to the country to cease immediately.

"Any attempt at creating a government in Sudan today is fake. It is irrelevant. Trusting the soldiers to bring democracy is a false pretence," he said.

While avoiding direct criticism of the UAE, which has been accused of arming the RSF, Hamdok cautioned against singling out one country while ignoring others like Iran.

"What we would like to see is anybody who is supplying arms to any side to stop," he said.

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