US Sudan envoy calls on combatants to get out of the way of peace

Guardian Nigeria

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00:00Thanks very much for staying with us. Time now for Eye on Africa with me, Georgia Calvin

00:05Smith. Tonight, the US pledges $200 million in humanitarian aid for Sudan. I speak to

00:10the US Special Envoy to the war-torn country about what difference his administration has

00:16and perhaps can still make to one of the world's worst wars. Also, Nigeria reels as more details

00:23emerge of the circumstances and heartbreak caused by a fatal crush at a school event.

00:29The gathering in Oyo State started off as a fun day, but ended in a stampede in which

00:34at least 35 children were killed. And Somaliland, a breakaway region of Somalia and at its Hargeisa

00:43Cultural Centre library, cassettes have been lovingly kept, preserving more than half a

00:50century of its music, poetry and political discourse. But first, the US has promised

01:01$200 million in humanitarian aid for the millions displaced and affected by the war in Sudan.

01:08War broke out there last April between the army led by Abdullah Faisal Burhan and the

01:13RSF paramilitary led by his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, known as Hmeti. Tens

01:19of thousands have been killed, 11 million displaced and it is the world's biggest humanitarian

01:25crisis. Now, whilst chairing a UN Security Council meeting on the conflict, on Thursday

01:31the US Secretary of State also pledged that Washington would do everything it could possibly

01:35do to hold those accused of abuse on both sides of the conflict to account. I'm joined

01:41now by the US's Special Envoy for Sudan, Tom Perriello. Tom, thank you so much for speaking

01:47to me. Now, first of all, just give us a bit of a sense of where things do stand currently

01:54when it comes to humanitarian access in Sudan, because that's been a real issue throughout

02:00the lifetime of the conflict.

02:02It has been. Just going back five months, you really had effectively a humanitarian

02:07embargo on 25 million or more Sudanese. Even though it didn't get a lot of attention, it

02:13was by far the largest crisis of its kind. Five months later, we've had steady progress

02:18working with our UN colleagues, working with the authorities in Port Sudan. We now have

02:23every major hard tarmac road into the country open. We've got some flights going. We're

02:28getting progress just today on a humanitarian corridor into parts of southern Khartoum that

02:34have not had emergency aid since the war began almost two years ago. Overall, we've seen

02:39a 400 percent increase in the amount of food and medicine getting in from that low point.

02:44But even with that, we are less than half of the way to where we need to be to try to

02:49prevent the kind of famine and malnourishment. So that gives you some sense of how bad things

02:54have been, that a four time increase still only gets us half of the way to where we need

02:59to be. And in the meantime, we've seen the violence continue, including the unconscionable

03:05shelling of the Zamzam camp, where up to one and a half or two million innocent people

03:11are sitting in tight quarters. We have seen a pause at least for a few days from the RSF

03:16in that shelling. We must see the restoration of international humanitarian law, including

03:21humanitarian access, but also that protection of civilians.

03:24You only met with Burhan, as far as I understand it, for the first time last month in Sudan.

03:31It's been hard going. How much faith do you have in either side's intention to truly try

03:36and find a negotiated way out of this?

03:39We need them to come to the table with the political will to get out of the way of the

03:43Sudanese people. They joined forces. Keep in mind the two sides that are fighting now,

03:47the army and the RSF, actually joined forces to overthrow the civilian revolution that

03:55had put the country on the path to democracy. So what we really need is to let the Sudanese

03:59people determine their own future by restoring that democratic path. And today, Secretary

04:04Blinken promised an additional 30 million in support to the women and youth who are

04:10so clearly the future of this country to be able to support that Sudanese dialogue, not

04:14just to cease fire, but to a brighter Sudanese future.

04:18What is the US's position in terms of the UAE? Because I understand that the administration

04:25has said that it's set a January 17th deadline for a final assessment on the UAE's promise

04:32that it's not selling on any of a lot of the weapons that they buy from the US to support

04:37the RSF in Sudan. And so you set this January 17th deadline, but up till now, there still

04:46seems to be a lot of pretty coherent evidence that the UAE is selling weapons to the RSF.

04:55So, you know, this hedging of bets on the side of the US does seem at odds with its

05:02stated push to try and find a way out of the conflict.

05:08Well, the United States hasn't done any hedging of bets. It's really led the way on putting

05:14pressure on those fueling both sides of this conflict, both inside and outside Sudan. We've

05:19called out the ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity by the rapid support forces.

05:25We've called on those countries that are supplying weapons in, particularly through

05:29Darfur, where Linda Thomas-Greenfield helped extend the Darfur arms embargo. And we're

05:35imposing those sanctions on the weapons flows, as well as calling out the role of Russia,

05:39not only in fueling the conflict, but standing in the way of solutions. As Secretary Blinken

05:45talked about today at the Security Council, we need more countries to join with the United

05:49States in imposing these costs on the individuals and the companies and the countries that are

05:55fueling this conflict, but also calling people to be partners in a peaceful process to rebuild

06:01the democratic future and the peace for Sudan. And I think this goes back to a long track

06:06record with the United States across both Republican and Democratic administrations,

06:12where we were very critical and called out the Janjaweed back in the day. We were critical

06:17of the SAS decision to formalize a role for the RSF and then to invite them in as partners

06:23in the effort to throw off the civilian transition. So the United States has had a very clear

06:27track record on that. We are committed to the end of these atrocities. We are committed

06:31to that civilian democratic future. And unfortunately, we see too many actors coming in on both sides

06:37of the equation who want to not just fuel the war, but profit from it. We see former

06:43Bashir officials, former National Congress Party officials who've come back in on the

06:48SAF side and really need this war and need the suffering of the Sudanese people as an

06:52excuse to try to take back over ministries and the rest. We see some tribal leaders who

06:57should be powerful voices for peace instead of finding ways to profit from the war and

07:03from the suffering of the Sudanese people. There's a huge and unified will of the Sudanese

07:08people to end this war and these atrocities and get back to the dreams of the 2019 revolution.

07:14And the United States stands not just the Biden administration, but very strong Republican

07:19and Democratic support in Congress with that path.

07:21What do you think is going to change in the change of administration in the US in terms

07:25of your country's position on what's happening in Sudan?

07:29Well, as someone who's been working on these issues in Sudan for over 20 years, I can say

07:34that there's been a lot of consistency about the American people standing with the Sudanese

07:38people of Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill, really wanting to speak out first and

07:44early against the atrocities in Sudan and be supportive of that democratic future. I

07:49can't speak for the president-elect and his team, but I can tell you there's an enormous

07:52amount of interest from both Republicans and Democrats on the Hill, as well as just from

07:57the compassion of the American people to continue to be supportive of things like Mutual Aid

08:01Sudan and the emergency response rooms and these efforts to take great risk to get food

08:07and medicine to their neighbors inside Sudan. So I think you'll see a lot of continuity

08:12and a lot of continuation, but we will see where the president-elect goes from there.

08:16Joanne Perriello, US Special Envoy to Sudan. Thank you very much for your time.

08:21Well, the death toll from a stampede at a school fair in Nigeria has risen to 35. Clarice

08:27Fortunet tells us more.

08:31Broken chairs, debris and decorations scattered on the ground. That's what's left on what

08:37should have been a great day for thousands of kids. Instead, this is a scene where tragedy

08:42struck. A large crowd had gathered for a family event in Ibadan, Oyo State's capital.

08:48It's still not clear what provoked a stampede, but thousands of children were attending.

08:53The Islamic High School that had organized the children fun fair had promised to give

08:57cash, gifts and food handouts. And 10,000 people reportedly turned up for the event,

09:04provoking a crush as they struggled to gain entry. As they visited the children who were

09:09rushed to hospital, the Oyo State Deputy Governor blamed the event organizers.

09:14There's no way anybody in his right mind would not organize an event of this nature without

09:26involving security apparatus. I mean, people are very safe and they are alive to what is

09:35happening around us. We can't cramp 10,000 people, children for that matter, in a place

09:45and expect them to be hit normally.

09:50At least 35 children were killed and six were injured. Some people were arrested. There

09:56have been several similar incidents, prompted by the promise of cash and food handouts.

10:0131 people died two years ago when hundreds of people who had turned up to receive food

10:06at a church early in River State broke through a gate, causing a stampede.

10:12Well, finally, Somaliland's a breakaway region of Somalia and at its Hargeisa Cultural Centre

10:17library, cassettes have been meticulously put aside to archive and preserve more than

10:22half a century of the music, poetry and political discussion of the self-declared nation.

10:28Clarice Fortuné has more.

10:32The sound of another era. In this library in Somaliland's capital Hargeisa, Hafsa Omer

10:39is discovering a part of a country's history. For the last three years, the 21-year-old

10:45has been painstakingly archiving and digitizing a collection of some 14,000 recordings at

10:51a cultural centre.

10:52I see it important because it's holding a whole history of my country, it's holding

10:57a whole history of my people because my people, they never write, they never read, all they

11:03do is they talk.

11:05Brought back, found or donated, the tapes contain more than half a century of the musical,

11:11cultural and political life of the region. Somaliland has run its own affairs since unilaterally

11:18declaring independence from Somalia in 1991, but remains unrecognised by any country.

11:24This is just a proof to disprove those who say that Somaliland doesn't exist, because

11:31it shows that it exists. And putting these blocks together and making, you know, the

11:37history is made by the people who are witnessing. The failure is that when we don't document

11:43it, someone else creates another narrative.

11:48Somalis have traditionally been nomadic shepherds, with culture transmitted orally, from

11:53one generation to another. Somaliland has long been a centre of music and poetry. With

11:59small tape recorders becoming widely available in the 1970s and 1980s, Somalilanders got

12:05into the habit of corresponding with exiled relatives via cassettes. Gathered around a

12:10tape recorder, they would recount intimacies of family life, but also survival during a

12:15decade-long war that culminated in the declaration of independence in 1991. Fewer than 5,000

12:22recordings have been catalogued, and only 1,100 digitised, leaving a titanic task for

12:29Hapsa Omer and her team, a real cultural odyssey in a place still searching for recognition.

12:38Well, that's it for Eye on Africa. Thanks for joining us, though. Do so again. Take care.

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