African Union struggles to break diplomatic deadlock over Sudan war
The African Union is attempting to advance a unified response to Sudan’s protracted conflict, but the continental body is confronting both battlefield realities and internal disagreements that have so far limited its leverage, according to Al Jazeera.
Sudan has been engulfed in fighting since April 2023, when tensions between the Sudanese Armed Forces, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, commanded by Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, known as Hemedti, erupted into open war. The violence has triggered one of the world’s largest displacement crises, with millions of Sudanese forced from their homes and the country’s humanitarian infrastructure pushed to the brink of collapse.
The AU, headquartered in Addis Ababa, has long positioned itself as a principal mediator in African crises, drawing on decades of experience in peace efforts across the continent. In Sudan’s case, however, the organisation has struggled to assert a coherent role. Member states have reportedly been divided over the appropriate approach, with some favouring robust engagement and others cautious about the AU’s capacity to influence the warring parties.
As Al Jazeera reported, the AU must navigate these divisions while also contending with the scale of the conflict itself, in which neither side appears close to a decisive victory. Previous mediation tracks, including those led by other regional and international actors, have yielded limited breakthroughs, raising questions about whether the AU can carve out a meaningful role in ending the war.
Analysts say the AU’s effectiveness in Sudan will depend in part on its ability to speak with one voice and to mobilise the diplomatic weight of its 55 member states behind a single negotiating framework. That task is complicated by Sudan’s own uneasy standing within the organisation, which has previously suspended Khartoum’s membership over the country’s political trajectory.
Sources
This report was written from coverage published by the following news organisations. Follow the links for the original reporting.
- Al Jazeera — Can the AU make its current Sudan mission count?
