An open letter from a concerned African, Abdul Mohammed
My Sudanese brothers and sisters,
Having just celebrated Africa Day, I write to you not as an outsider, but as a fellow African whose fate is bound to yours. I write with sorrow, urgency, deep respect—and also with fierce hope. For too long, you have been told that peace will come from above, from beyond, or from others. But real peace begins with you.
This war is not merely a military confrontation. It is a war on your dignity, your identity, your communities, and your future. It has robbed you of control over your fate, casting you as bystanders in a conflict fought on your soil, in your name, but without your voice. Yet even now, amidst ruin, you are not powerless. You have not surrendered. And that is where the path to peace begins.
The war is doubly tragic in that it is waged against the people, the very people who stood up and brought down a dictatorship with an exemplary non-violent expression of people power. I take heart from the fact that the Sudanese spirit of civic resistance and renewal has not been extinguished.
Sudan’s destiny cannot be subcontracted. Foreign actors may assist, but they cannot repair what they did not build. No outsider can love Sudan more than its people. And no external intervention will ever take greater risks for peace than those who must live with its absence. Sudan’s peace must be defined, demanded, and defended by Sudanese themselves. That is not just a moral truth—it is a strategic necessity.
I know you are exhausted. I know despair has crept into the corners of your hearts. But I also know you have not given up. The pain is deep, yes—but the will to endure is deeper still. That strength must now be harnessed for a national mission: to reclaim Sudan’s future through a people-led movement for peace.
Let me be clear: I am not calling for symbolic gestures or idealistic dreams. I am calling for organized, focused, and determined civic action. Because only you can end this war. And here are some humble suggestions for your consideration as to how you might do that:
1. Convene a Sudanese People’s Peace Conference.
The foundation of this movement must be an inclusive Peace Conference—not convened by the powerful, but by the people. Civil society, youth, religious leaders, women’s groups, displaced communities, professional associations, and ethical political actors must come together—not to divide power, but to define peace. This is not a rival to formal mediation; it is the moral and political compass that can guide it.
Let the mediators come—not to lead, but to listen. Because when peace comes from below, it can rise to the heights of history. When it is imposed from above, it collapses under its own weight. This conference is not only feasible—it is necessary. It is not naive to trust in the agency of the people. It is naive to keep repeating elite-led processes that have failed again and again.
2. Craft a People’s Peace Agenda.
Let the conference produce a People’s Peace Agenda—clear, bold, and historically informed. It must define the kind of peace Sudanese want, what justice requires, and how unity can be rebuilt. This agenda must come not from boardrooms, but from the streets, the refugee camps, the homes of the bereaved, and the dreams of young people. This is not about managing a crisis—it is about imagining a future.
3. Launch a national peace movement.
Use this agenda to build a national movement. Organize across divides. Mobilize across regions. Engage the Sudanese diaspora. Create a political and moral force that warlords cannot co-opt and foreign powers cannot ignore. You are not waiting for peace—you are building it. And once the people move, the politics will follow.
4. Link the peace movement to mediation efforts.
The peace process must listen to its true stakeholders. The outcomes of the People’s Conference must shape and guide any mediation. Regional and international mediators must be encouraged to attend as observers—bearing witness to the voice of the people. They must align with the will of the Sudanese people. That is the only path to legitimacy. That is how peace will last.
5. Deliver immediate outcomes: Silence the guns, reduce polarization.
These are Sudan’s twin demons. Guns destroy bodies; polarization destroys nations. Stopping the killing is urgent—but stopping the fragmentation of society is just as critical. The Peace Conference must confront both. It must produce a strategy to end violence and to reweave the torn social fabric. Sudanese must not only stop the war—they must rebuild the meaning of being Sudanese.
6. Use social media as a tool for peace.
The platforms that once fueled hate and disinformation can be repurposed to mobilize hope. Promote the Peace Conference. Crowdsource ideas. Share stories of resilience and coexistence. Turn digital spaces into civic spaces. Connect Sudanese inside the country with those abroad. Social media can divide—but it can also unite.
7. Tackle the new nature of war.
This is not a war that will end with a signature on a paper. It is a forever war—fragmented, self-replicating, and politically aimless. The Peace Conference must recognize this reality and devise ways to disrupt the logic of endless conflict. Peace is no longer just a destination—it must be a continuous act of resistance, reconstruction, and reinvention.
History is not silent.
From Montgomery to Soweto to Bogotá, we know that grassroots peace movements can bend the arc of history towards justice. In the United States, ordinary people reclaimed a nation’s soul. In South Africa, communities rose together to end apartheid. In Colombia, civil society forced open the doors of negotiation. Sudan can do it too.
This is not idealism. It is strategy. Without a people-led movement, this war will grind on. Foreign-brokered deals may pause the violence—but only you can end it. Only you can build a peace worth living in.
Let this moment be to Sudan’s peace movement what Montgomery was to the mobilization for civil rights moment. Let this be the moment when the world stops and says: the Sudanese people refused to be victims. They rose. They talked. They built peace with their own hands.
You have done it before. You can do it again.
In solidarity and hope,
Abdul Mohammed
A Concerned African
Abdul Mohamed is a former senior AU and UN official with extensive experience in mediation across the Horn of Africa, particularly Sudan and South Sudan. See his earlier article on the failure of diplomacy in addressing Sudan’s ongoing devastating war.
