SUDAN CALL: STRATEGIC MESSAGES FOR THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY

AUGUST 2018

STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION GOALS

To win widespread support for the Sudan Call to help achieve its political objectives – a
comprehensive and just peace and democratic transformation

To build the Sudan Call brand in order to help build credibility and visibility

APPROACHES TO MESSAGING

The Sudan Call has four objectives in terms of messaging:

1. To promote the Sudan Call as a credible, organised and representative opposition

2. To expose the Government of Sudan’s brutality and corruption
3. To help create momentum for change
4. (REACTIVE MESSAGING) To counter unjustified criticism of the Sudan Call

APPROACH 1 – TO PROMOTE THE SUDAN CALL AS A CREDIBLE, PRINCIPLED AND REPRESENTATIVE

OPPOSITION

1. The Sudan Call is committed to democratic values and equal citizenship. We stand for
peace, democracy, freedoms, respect for human rights, equal citizenship and respect for
diversity. We want to see an end to marginalisation and discrimination. We are committed
to change not just of the regime but of the system.
2. The Sudan Call is committed to a comprehensive and just peace. We reject a piecemeal
approach to peace-making. Sudan’s internal conflicts can only be resolved by addressing
their root causes. This means making fundamental changes at the centre, especially
democratic transformation. Peace and democracy must go hand in hand. The Sudan Call
remains committed to the Road Map Agreement which it signed in August 2016 and is ready
to meet President Mbeki at any time.
3. The Sudan Call is determined to fight impunity and seeks justice for the victims of war
crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. IDPs and refugees from Sudan’s conflict
zones are represented in the Sudan Call’s Leadership Council. The Sudan Call supports the
International Criminal Court as a court of last resort to prosecute atrocity crimes. Sudan
does not have an independent and capable judiciary to deal with these crimes.
4. The Sudan Call wants to improve living standards for all Sudanese citizens. By ending wars,
we can shift resources from conflict to the provision of basic services for our people,
including health, education, access to clean water, fuel and other necessities. By ending the
grand corruption of the current regime and investing in productive sectors such as
agriculture and industry, the economy will start to grow and there will be more livelihood
opportunities for Sudanese citizens. Once Sudan has a democratic government, it will be
able to normalise relations with the international community and will be in a position to
seek debt relief and attract foreign investment.
5. The Sudan Call is Sudan’s broadest opposition political alliance. It is the only entity that
includes political parties, political movements engaged in armed struggle, IDPs and refugees
and civil society from all over the country. It is a unique body that can help to shape the
future of Sudan.
6. The Sudan Call is expanding and wants to unite all opposition forces. We are open to other
opposition, social and issues-based groups and other change actors who wish to join us. In
 recent months more political parties have joined the Sudan Call, a new bloc has been
created for IDPs and refugees and other organisations have applied to join.
7. The Sudan Call offers a credible alternative to the current regime. We are making serious
preparations for a transitional government by developing a set of alternative policies on all
key policy areas. Work on this is well-advanced. Substantive contributions have already
been made by Sudan Call members and independent experts. These contributions will be
further developed and consolidated.

APPROACH 2 – TO EXPOSE THE GOVERNMENT’S BRUTALITY AND CORRUPTION

1. President Bashir has declared that Sudan is a full-fledged Islamist regime and has
announced that the regime won’t hesitate to amputate hands and legs and behead people.
In its willingness to use brutality, the regime has gone back to its fanatical Islamist roots and
behaviour that is close to that of ISIS. Bashir is exploiting the Islamic Movement for his own
political purposes in order to try and stay in power.
2. The Government of Sudan continues to discriminate against its minority Christian
community, including many cases of destroying churches and selling church lands to
investors close to the regime.
3. Sudan is one of the most corrupt countries in the world. Sudan is 175th out of 180
countries, according to Transparency International’s Corruption Index. Grand corruption
starts at the very top.
4. The current regime’s divide and rule strategy has undermined the social fabric. The regime
has encouraged tribalism and ethnic, cultural and religious discrimination. It has promoted
intertribal conflict by arming some tribes against others and creating tribal militias. This
policy has undermined Sudan’s social fabric. Its divide and rule strategy threatens the
nation’s very existence. The regime has recently been instigating fighting between the Hausa
and Fellata tribes in Gedaref state in East Sudan, using the same divisive tactics employed in
Darfur.
5. The regime has an appalling human rights record. The human rights situation in Sudan is
deteriorating and there is no political will to change this. This year, the regime is making a
big effort to get Sudan removed from the agenda of the UN Human Rights Council. The
Sudan Call will be lobbying at the Human Rights Council for Sudan to be moved back from
Item 10 to Item 4. A technical assistance and capacity-building resolution is not appropriate
for Sudan which has no independent judiciary or rule of law. It requires a Special Rapporteur
who will monitor and report on the multiple human rights violations.
6. This regime bears responsibility for the break up of Sudan into two countries by treating
Southern Sudanese as second-class citizens. The Sudan Call will seek to establish strategic
relations between the two Sudans and encourage close people-to-people links. The regime’s
only interest in mediating in the South Sudan peace process is to get its hands on South
Sudan’s oil.
7. The regime is undermining stability in the wider region and still has links with terrorism.
Sudan is part of the problem, not part of the solution. Many members of Boko Haram and Al
Shabab were trained in the International African University in Khartoum. The regime has
continued to interfere in the affairs of its neighbours such as Libya and the CAR, where it has
been training and supporting Seleka. It is spilling the blood of its young men needlessly by
sending them to fight as mercenaries in the war in Yemen. Sudan is one of the largest
exporters of small arms and ammunition to other conflict zones in Africa.
8. The Government of Sudan is not a genuine partner in combatting irregular migration.
Members of the regime are themselves complicit in human trafficking. Sudan is also a major
 exporter of refugees from Darfur and the Two Areas. Instead of treating the regime as a
partner on migration, the international community need to step up their diplomatic efforts
to promote peace and democratic transformation. Once there is peace, good governance,
respect for human rights and livelihood opportunities, then Sudanese citizens will no longer
want to migrate to other countries.

APPROACH 3 – TO HELP CREATE MOMENTUM FOR CHANGE

1. Sudanese people are running out of patience. The lives of Sudanese people will only get
worse while this regime is in power. Since the start of the year, people have had to queue
for hours for bread and fuel. There is growing poverty and the prospect of famine in coming
months due to lack of fuel for farmers. Essential medicines are in short supply. People can’t
even get access to their own bank accounts. Public health services for the mass of the
population have been largely destroyed, while the wealthy go abroad to get heath care.
Women face discrimination and harassment. Sudanese youth face a tougher future than at
any time in decades with the decline in the quality of education and high levels of graduate
unemployment. Life has become so desperate in Sudan that young people are prepared to
risk their lives in dangerous journeys to Europe to try to get away from the hell created by
the current regime.
2. This is a dying regime. The Head of State is a fugitive from the ICC. The country is on the
verge of economic collapse and the Government has no idea how to tackle the economic
crisis. The ruling party is deeply divided.
3. The Sudan Call is strongly opposed to constitutional amendment to allow Bashir to run
again. The Sudan Call is leading a campaign against amending the Constitution.
4. The emergence of the Sudan Call as a credible opposition is the best opportunity in
decades to realise Sudan’s potential and improve people’s lives. We are the largest
opposition coalition that is working for change and that brings to together people from the
centre and the periphery. So the best hope for peace and democracy is to support the Sudan
Call.

APPROACH FOUR (REACTIVE MESSAGING) -TO COUNTER UNJUSTIFIED CRITICISM OF THE SUDAN
CALL

• It is not true that the Sudan Call just wants to be part of the system. We want a new
system altogether. The Sudan Call is committed to democratic principles. We have a clear
vision of how we see a genuinely inclusive political process leading to democratic
transformation and have set this out in detail for the AUHIP.

THE SUDAN CALL’S ASKS FROM THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY

We call on the international community to:

• Support our call for Bashir not to be allowed to change the Constitution and contest the
Presidential elections again after nearly three decades in power. It is high time for change.
• Support our campaign in the Human Rights Council to place Sudan once again under item 4
and to appoint a Special Rapporteur
• Redouble their efforts to work for a comprehensive and just peace settlement and
democratic transformation in Sudan and refrain from taking a piecemeal approach to the
peace process.
• Honour their obligations as State Parties to the Rome Statute in relation to Sudan and the
ICC.