Al-Hadi Idris Addresses Symposium on Challenges of Transition in Countries of Sahel-Saharan Region

Member of the Transitional Sovereignty Council, Dr. Al-Hadi Idris, has affirmed the importance of facing up the challenges of transition in the Sahel and Sahara region, including the challenges of the managing of human diversity and natural resources, indicating that failure to manage diversity means the collapse of the entire transition system.

Addressing on Wednesday in Niamey, the Republic of Niger, the Hadid high-level symposium on the common challenges facing the transition processes in the countries of the Sahel-Saharan region (Sudan, Chad, Niger and Libya, as an example), Dr. Idris affirmed the importance of a comprehensive national project within which such challenges are to be addressed, in order to achieve the required transition and to build a state of good governance.

He indicated that the other challenge facing the transitions lies on the extremist and terrorist groups that impede the transition by destabilizing the security and stability and posing a threat to peace and security, not only in the region, but at the international level.

The member of the Transitional Sovereignty Council stressed that the addressing of the issues of displaced persons, refugees, land ownership and Hawakir are among the major challenges facing the transition processes, as well as issues of accountability, compensation and reparation for the people affected by wars and conflicts in these countries

Dr. Al-Hadi Idris explained that Sudan was able, through the Juba Peace Agreement, to take into account all these aspects by including in the agreement seven protocols, represented in the cease-fire, the issues of displaced people, refugees, lands, hawakir, transitional justice, compensation and reparations, the development of the nomadic and pastoral sector, in addition to the sharing of wealth and power.

He said that based on  the practical experience in Sudan, one of the biggest challenges facing the transition is the weakness of external support, as the international community interacts positively during negotiations, but after signing the peace agreement and entry of the practical implementation, appears the challenge of the weakness and absence of the external support.

He pointed out that the Sudanese experience clearly confirmed that there is no peace without democracy and there is no democracy without peace.

The member of the Sovereignty Council indicated that one of the most important challenges of the transition is the reform of the security services sector in accordance with the standards leading to the creation of a unified national army with a national combat doctrine, through the implementation of the security arrangements agreed upon in these countries.

It is to be noted that the two-day Niamey symposium, which is organized by the Center for Strategies and Security of the Sahel and Sahara Region, and the Promediation Organization, on the “Challenges of Transition Facing the Region’s countries of Niger, Libya, Chad and Sudan aims to develop critical thinking about the common challenges faced by countries in the region and the possible cooperation efforts with a focus on the dynamics of the fragile area across the borders between (Libya, Sudan, Niger and Chad).