OTTAWA –
Canada must play a role in leading global efforts to end a brutal civil war that has displaced far more people than conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, a former Canadian ambassador to Sudan says.
“We're down to almost zero, frankly,” said Nicholas Coghlan, noting that Ottawa lags behind its allies in imposing sanctions on those who support rival warlords.
“If we are serious about re-engaging in Africa, this conflict is critical because it spills over not only into Africa, but also into the Middle East.”
Sudan has been ruled by military chiefs for most of its recent history, and negotiations to impose civilian rule collapsed last April as two unpopular generals vied for influence.
Clashes broke out between Sudanese forces and a paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces in Khartoum, a capital of five million people.
The fighting has spread to large parts of the East African country and led to the collapse of the health and school systems.
U.N. agencies say the war has caused the worst displacement crisis on the planet, forcing 7.5 million people from their homes, risking further genocide in Darfur and causing cholera outbreaks and widespread hunger.
Sudan has faced decades of ethnic tensions between groups in the north and south, leading to the creation of the separate country of South Sudan in 2021.
Coghlan said Canada played “a very constructive supporting role” in monitoring the divide through peacekeepers in the late 1990s to mid-2000s.
Ottawa also helped contain a genocide against the ethnic Darfur population in the Darfur region in the west of the country about two decades ago.
Western efforts to ensure stability in the region have been led primarily by the United States, the United Kingdom and Norway, along with a bloc of East African governments.
When the current conflict in Sudan began last April, Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly traveled to neighboring Kenya to meet with officials from the same regional group of six countries known as the Intergovernmental Authority on Development.
As fighting engulfed Khartoum, Canada and other countries evacuated their citizens via airlifts and treacherous road convoys to the country's main port. Canada has since provided $71 million in humanitarian assistance and called for peace.
However, the German government has not yet imposed sanctions on people or companies accused of supporting the war in Sudan, although the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union have already done so.
Global Affairs Canada did not respond to questions last week about why Ottawa has not taken such a step.
“We are not as on top of things as, for example, the UK, Norway, the Nordics, the EU etc,” Coghlan said.
“It seems that we believe in sanctions. And yet you look at this list (of people sanctioned by Canada) – there are hundreds for Belarus, hundreds for Zimbabwe, hundreds for Russia, for Iran and so on, but not a single one for Sudan.”
New reports suggest the conflict is expanding.
Media reports said Egypt and Iran have sent drones to Sudan's armed forces, while the United Arab Emirates has denied reports that it is supplying weapons to the rival RSF.
“The potential for escalation is really, really big,” Coghlan said.
Canada also currently does not have an ambassador to Sudan.
Envoys from other Western countries have left the country but remain entrusted with monitoring events in Sudan, but the Canadian government has assigned a completely different role to the former Sudanese ambassador.
Coghlan said Canada should appoint a senior envoy to support small peace initiatives in the region and bring other countries on board with statements and sanctions that could pressure warlords to stop the violence.
He said there was currently no place for peace negotiators in the “intractable” conflict and there was no widely supported civilian group that could govern the country.
But he said such an envoy could provide Canadian officials with real-time information and find peace and humanitarian projects worth supporting.
Some grassroots groups that call themselves “emergency centers” provide humanitarian assistance, including food, shelter and basic medical care, in areas where the Sudanese government or militant groups impede the movement of larger organizations such as U.N. bodies.
Omima Omer Jabal Yagwb, who leads one such organization in the Jabal Awliya area south of Khartoum, says her group was founded when people began running out of food, electricity and clean water a month into the conflict.
“We had to walk miles to find food to provide a meal or two to people (in our) neighborhood,” she said at a panel discussion hosted by the United States Institute of Peace last week.
“With this very tight budget, we sometimes had to choose between saving lives or providing food. If you had two meals a day you would be very lucky.”
Coghlan said such efforts can produce tangible results for people with minimal means, although the logistics of tracking those dollars could be complicated.
He said that in addition to finding ways to support such groups, the longer-term goal could be for Canada to use its G7 chairmanship next year to lobby allies to press warlords toward a ceasefire and political solution.
The crisis in Sudan is expected to play a large role in the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee's hearings on Canada's engagement in Africa, which will welcome its first non-governmental witnesses on Wednesday.
In late 2022, senators including Peter Harder and Amina Gerba warned the government that Canada was falling behind its peers in setting trade and development strategies as the continent's population is expected to almost double by 2050.
The Liberals have been promising an Africa strategy for years. The long-overdue document was described as a framework last year and has not yet been published.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 5, 2024