The Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Port Sudan has criticized the planned convention of a conference in Paris without the government’s participation.
On April 15th, France will be hosting a humanitarian conference in Paris, which is meant to drum up funding in order to support humanitarian initiatives in war-torn Sudan. The conference is to be attended by a number of different Western entities, including the US, the EU, the UK, and more, as well as a number of different Sudanese civilian groups and NGOs.
The event is being organized in cooperation with Germany and the European Union.
The Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a statement obtained by Radio Tamazuj Friday, said that organizing the humanitarian conference without consulting the Sudanese government “disregards the principle of sovereignty.”
The ministry further expressed “dismay and astonishment at this approach, which it considers a violation of international laws and the United Nations Charter, which recognizes the government as the exclusive representative of the country in international and regional forums.”
The ministry stated that the meeting organizers “should be cognizant of the fact that the international trusteeship system was abolished decades ago.”
The statement pointed to what the Sudanese authorities described as “hiding behind the pretext of neutrality” between what the organizers call the conflicting parties to justify the exclusion of Sudan in organizing the meeting.
The statement added that this approach may encourage rebel movements in Africa and the Middle East to escalate their criminal activities and may serve as an excuse for Western powers to ignore the sovereignty of states under the pretext of neutrality.
The statement called on the international community to fulfil its previous commitments to Sudan at the Geneva Conference instead of wasting resources on holding new conferences that are “exploited by rebels.”
The Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs called on the international community to take a firm stance against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces for obstructing humanitarian aid through the agreed-upon routes between Sudan and the United Nations.
Meanwhile, Sudanese political analyst Mohamed Shams al-Deen believes that the conference organizers had committed a major mistake by bypassing the military government’s representation.
He explained that regardless of who currently represents Sudan and its people through its official apparatuses, Sudan should have been invited.
“Organizing such a conference without inviting any party representing the concerned state, even at a low level, will be objected to,” he said.
Shams al-Deen added, “What is missing in this conference is the invitation to Sudan. I expect this issue to be rectified in the coming hours. If things proceed in this manner, France, the European Union, and Germany will have committed a major mistake.”