South African International Relations Minister Ronald Lamola has committed his country’s full backing to an African Union extraordinary summit in Luanda, Angola, set for the end of August, which will focus on resolving Sudan’s devastating civil war.
Lamola made the pledge at the 46th Ordinary SADC Summit of Heads of State and Government in Durban, describing the Sudan conflict as “one of the biggest moral failures in our lifetime” and calling the upcoming Luanda meeting “a critical opportunity to mobilise the continent toward a structured intervention.”
The Sudan civil war, which erupted in April 2023, has displaced an estimated 15 million people, left 25 million facing food insecurity and cut off 19 million from access to clean water, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. The conflict has killed tens of thousands and drawn repeated international calls for a ceasefire.
A joint assessment by the UN Development Programme and the Institute for Security Studies estimates Sudan lost $6.4 billion in 2023 alone due to the war, equivalent to a per capita income loss of about $500 and pushing seven million additional people into extreme poverty. The analysis characterised the conflict as the single most binding constraint on Sudan’s development.
Despite multiple mediation efforts including the US-Saudi Jeddah framework, a Quad arrangement involving the US, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the UAE, and an AU-led Quintet with IGAD, the UN, the EU and the Arab League, no durable ceasefire has been achieved. Analysts say the competing diplomatic tracks have often worked at cross purposes.
The ISS has outlined a potential “Sudan Rising” pathway in which an end to conflict this year could see GDP expand by $19.3 billion by 2043, with average growth of five percent, and 17.3 million people lifted out of extreme poverty. But researchers warn that such outcomes depend entirely on whether peace holds long enough for governance to be rebuilt.
Sudan’s location along a conflict belt stretching from the Sahel to Yemen exposes the country to regional insecurity and periodic friction with neighbouring Egypt and Ethiopia. The 2023 war has deepened existing constraints and reversed years of developmental gains.
South Africa’s backing of the Luanda summit adds diplomatic weight to African-led peace efforts as the continent seeks to assert greater ownership of conflict resolution on the continent, reducing reliance on external mediators whose initiatives have yet to produce results.
Sources: DefenceWeb, Security Council Report
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