The new UN Security Council president is the representative from Switzerland. Switzerland is known as a nation of peace. How they maintain peace is by mainly maintaining neutrality and they would allow talks to happen among those who were in conflict, that they would try to step back away from the conflict and allow dialogues to happen. Switzerland was always quite successful with that. And during World War II, they managed to pull off some amazing things that allowed a safe haven for a number of people from different sides to maybe find differences so that peace could eventually be achieved. So we look forward to seeing some very interesting if not amazing things happen from the Security Council this month as they that is their ultimate goal is to strive for peace and to bring peace about in different areas. With that being said, the representative is also going to admit to some limitations. It isn’t going to be an all-inspiring thing. It is going to be the nudge towards bringing peace by bringing people to a table so that they can discuss differences and come to some agreements that might end war. That was the ultimate goal of the United Nations was to form a union or League of Nations. So that dialogue could happen instead of shots fired. Instead of men rushing across battles with with with weapons, trying to harm each other. Those nations could sit down, where leadership can sit down and discuss differences and come up with solutions so that we all can live peacefully. We’d like to see more of that happen in our world, and there are a lot of situations where there are conflicts where there’s extreme gang violence because humanitarian efforts haven’t been successful in getting supplies and medication food, all those things needed to make people feel secure. So we have uprisings of gangs, especially when we look at areas like Haiti. Haiti will be brought up in the in today’s discussions with the UN, and how things can be diffused so that people can live peacefully live well live with the abundance that is truly around us. So why don’t we listen to what was said in the UN press room?
From Justin Trudeau on Sudan
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke with the President of Djibouti, Ismaïl Omar Guelleh, about the situation in Sudan.
Prime Minister Trudeau expressed deep concern about the conflict in Sudan and its impact on the humanitarian situation and the stability of the region, as well as on the transition to a civilian government in Sudan.
The Prime Minister thanked President Guelleh for Djibouti’s exceptional support for Canada’s evacuation operations. He also commended Djibouti for its demonstrated willingness to participate in the resolution of the conflict.
The two leaders discussed ongoing mediation efforts. Prime Minister Trudeau reiterated Canada’s support for regional mediation efforts, including those undertaken by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD). He offered Canada’s support in the search for a peaceful solution to the conflict.
The Prime Minister and the President discussed the close ties and friendship between Canadians and Djiboutians. They both noted the potential for developing bilateral relations between Canada and Djibouti.
Why Sudan’s conflict matters to the Rest of the World
Fighting in Sudan between forces loyal to two top generals has put that nation at risk of collapse and could have consequences far beyond its borders.
Both sides have tens of thousands of fighters, foreign backers, mineral riches and other resources that could insulate them from sanctions. It’s a recipe for the kind of prolonged conflict that has devastated other countries in the Middle East and Africa, from Lebanon and Syria to Libya and Ethiopia.
The fighting, which began as Sudan attempted to transition to democracy, already has killed hundreds of people and left millions trapped in urban areas, sheltering from gunfire, explosions and looters.
A look at what is happening and the impact it could have outside Sudan.
WHO IS FIGHTING?
Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, head of the armed forces, and Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, the leader of a paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces that grew out of Darfur’s notorious Janjaweed militias, are each seeking to seize control of Sudan. It comes two years after they jointly carried out a military coup and derailed a transition to democracy that had begun after protesters in 2019 helped force the ouster of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir. In recent months, negotiations were underway for a return to the democratic transition.
The victor of the latest fighting is likely to be Sudan’s next president, with the loser facing exile, arrest or death. A long-running civil war or partition of the Arab and African country into rival fiefdoms are also possible.
Alex De Waal, a Sudan expert at Tufts University, wrote in a memo to colleagues this week that the conflict should be seen as “the first round of a civil war.”
“Unless it is swiftly ended, the conflict will become a multi-level game with regional and some international actors pursuing their interests, using money, arms supplies and possibly their own troops or proxies,” he wrote.
WHAT DOES THE FIGHING MEAN FOR SUDAN’S NEIGHBORS?
Sudan is Africa’s third-largest country by area and straddles the Nile River. It uneasily shares its waters with regional heavyweights Egypt and Ethiopia. Egypt relies on the Nile to support its population of over 100 million, and Ethiopia is working on a massive upstream dam that has alarmed both Cairo and Khartoum.
Egypt has close ties to Sudan’s military, which it sees as an ally against Ethiopia. Cairo has reached out to both sides in Sudan to press for a cease-fire but is unlikely to stand by if the military faces defeat.
Sudan borders five additional countries: Libya, Chad, the Central African Republic, Eritrea and South Sudan, which seceded in 2011 and took 75% of Khartoum’s oil resources with it. Nearly all are mired in their own internal conflicts, with various rebel groups operating along the porous borders.
“What happens in Sudan will not stay in Sudan,” said Alan Boswell of the International Crisis Group. “Chad and South Sudan look most immediately at risk of potential spillover. But the longer (the fighting) drags on the more likely it is we see major external intervention.”
WHAT EXTERNAL POWERS ARE INTERESTED IN SUDAN?
Arab Gulf countries have looked to the Horn of Africa in recent years as they have sought to project power across the region.
The United Arab Emirates, a rising military power that has expanded its presence across the Middle East and East Africa, has close ties to the Rapid Support Forces, which sent thousands of fighters to aid the UAE and Saudi Arabia in their war against Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Russia, meanwhile, has long harbored plans to build a naval base capable of hosting up to 300 troops and four ships in Port Sudan, on a crucial Red Sea trading route for energy shipments to Europe.
The Wagner Group, a Russian mercenary outfit with close ties to the Kremlin, has made inroads across Africa in recent years and has been operating in Sudan since 2017. The United State and the European Union have imposed sanctions on two Wagner-linked gold mining firms in Sudan accused of smuggling.
WHAT ROLE DO WESTERN COUNTRIES PLAY?
Sudan became an international pariah when it hosted Osama bin Laden and other militants in the 1990s, when al-Bashir had empowered a hard-line Islamist government.
Its isolation deepened over the conflict in the western Darfur region in the 2000s, when Sudanese forces and the Janjaweed were accused of carrying out atrocities while suppressing a local rebellion. The International Criminal Court eventually charged al-Bashir with genocide.
The U.S. removed Sudan from its list of state sponsors of terrorism after the government in Khartoum agreed to forge ties with Israel in 2020.
But billions of dollars in loans and aid were put on hold after the 2021 military coup. That, along with the war in Ukraine and global inflation, sent the economy into free-fall.
