KHARTOUM – Darfur Governor Minni Arko Minnawi said any proposed truce in Sudan must serve civilians and should not become a political or military cover for legitimizing a parallel authority or entrenching the country’s division.
Minnawi said he discussed the proposed truce with Pekka Haavisto, the U.N. Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy for Sudan, alongside the political, humanitarian and security situation in Sudan and Darfur.
In a post about the meeting, Minnawi said his position was that any ceasefire arrangement should protect civilians and help create conditions for a unified Sudanese state.
He rejected what he described as attempts to establish a parallel political structure under the name of the Tasis government, arguing that the legitimacy of any authority should not be built at the expense of citizens or outside their will.
Minnawi said any political arrangements emerging from efforts to end the war should lead to one unified Sudanese state rather than competing governments.
He also briefed Haavisto on conditions in Darfur, saying the region had a population of about 12 million people and estimating that more than 8 million Darfuris were now outside the region as internally displaced people or refugees in neighboring countries.
Those figures reflect Minnawi’s estimates and could not be independently verified.
Minnawi accused the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of restricting the movement of civilians in some areas and preventing people from leaving for safer locations, saying some residents had effectively become trapped.
He also said Sudanese authorities had opened the country to international and humanitarian organizations, while accusing the RSF and affiliated groups of obstructing aid delivery in areas under their control.
The RSF has not responded to the allegations contained in Minnawi’s statement.
Minnawi said the crisis could not be resolved by treating the Sudanese state and armed forces as equivalent to the RSF.
He called for the RSF to be disarmed, for fighters and weapons to be removed from civilian homes and residential areas, and for forces to be assembled at designated locations outside cities.
Such measures, he said, would facilitate humanitarian access and create conditions for displaced people and refugees to return to their homes.
Minnawi said he supported any genuine truce that served civilians but warned that maintaining RSF control over residential areas while establishing a parallel authority could deepen Sudan’s fragmentation.
He argued that lasting peace should be based on a single Sudanese state with its sovereignty and territorial integrity preserved.
Minnawi also expressed regret that Sovereign Council Chairman Abdel Fattah al-Burhan was unable to deliver Sudan’s address at the U.N. General Assembly, saying Sudan’s voice should not be excluded from international forums.
The meeting with Haavisto comes amid continuing international efforts to reduce escalation, protect civilians and promote a political process aimed at ending the war.
