NEW YORK: Sudan’s new transitional prime minister has outlined plans for his country to be “reborn in unity” after years of brutal civil war.
Kamil El-Tayeb Idris addressed the UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday, months after being appointed by his country’s Transitional Sovereignty Council under President Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan. He is Sudan’s first civilian prime minister since the resignation of Abdalla Hamdok in 2022.
In his address, Idris said his country is a “great civilization” that has been victimized by “existential dangers” at the hands of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
“I stand before you from the banks of the Nile, from the land where history runs as deep as the river itself, from where the deserts know the footprints of ancient kingdoms, ancient civilizations, and from where, in this present hour, the dust still carries the scent of war,” he added.
“Sudan has bled. Our villages and cities have fallen silent under the shadow of unprecedented war, unprecedented invasion in the history of mankind. Our children have known fear before they’ve known the meaning of life. And yet, amid the ashes of war, there’s a unique pulse that refuses to die.”
International law is being eroded through “the crimes of genocide, aggression, and the employment of foreign mercenaries to occupy the territories of states and slaughter their peoples,” Idris said.
He condemned the widespread sanctions regime against certain Sudanese entities, including those operated by the Sudanese Armed Forces.
Major powers, including the US and EU, have continued to extend targeted sanctions against entities in the country.
Idris accused the RSF of carrying out systematic killing, torture, looting, rape, and the “savage destruction of all the basic components of life.”
He added: “These actions were deliberate. These actions were part of an integrated project to control Sudan, to plunder its wealth and to change the demographics of its population.”
His technocratic Government of Hope, formed this summer, has proposed a roadmap to bring peace to Sudan and rebuild the country.
But the international community must first “work to stop the flow of lethal weapons” to the RSF, as well as criminalize and classify it as a terrorist group, he said.
Idris also called for the immediate lifting of the siege on the city of El-Fasher, which has created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
He laid out the ambitions of his civilian government: achieving peace as a top priority, establishing a state based on the rule of law, fighting poverty and corruption, activating transitional justice, and laying the groundwork for comprehensive national elections with international observers, among others.
“Our doors will remain open to the UN and regional and international organizations,” he said. “We call on the international community to support the choices of the Sudanese people and their civilian government, and to support African solutions to conflicts.”
Idris also highlighted the “dangerous deterioration and escalation” in the Middle East, including the “catastrophic situation” in Palestine.
He called for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state based on the 1967 lines with East Jerusalem as its capital.
“We condemn the blatant Israeli attack on the sovereignty of the sisterly state of Qatar, which threatens international peace and security. Without peace, there’s no viable future,” he added.
Idris concluded his speech by pledging that “our sovereignty and territorial integrity are red lines,” adding: “We’ll never give up. I promise you, we’ll never give up.”
