Sudanese Intellectuals Confront National Crisis
Sudan Media Forum
Kampala, June 26, 2025 (Sudanile) - At a time when Sudan is enduring one of the most devastating wars in its modern history, over 47 thinkers, academics, political figures, and youth from across the country gathered in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, for a three-day intellectual forum aimed at forging a collective vision to end the war and lay the foundations for a new civil state—one that ends authoritarianism, marginalization, and militarization.
The forum was organized by the Democratic Thought Project and the Solidarity Movement for Democracy and Social Justice from June 15 to 17. Participants discussed 25 research papers tackling issues of the civil state, marginalization, militia proliferation, and transitional justice, across four main themes presented by a group of distinguished intellectuals and academics.
Speaking to Sudanile, Shams El-Din Daw Al-Bait, Director of the Democratic Thought Project, emphasized that the forum concluded with a shared vision: ending the war requires the formation of a broad civil front that brings together civil society forces, political and productive movements, and marginalized communities to exert unified pressure on the warring parties.
Deep Reflections on the Root of the Crisis
In his opening remarks, Daw Al-Bait called for a serious search for the "wounds and boils" that have disfigured Sudan since independence. He stated that the political conflict has long revolved around three currents: the aspiration for democracy, the voices of the marginalized, and calls for a religious state - with the military consistently acting as a decisive force since the 1958 coup.
He stressed that the failure to forge a democratic civic coexistence among these visions lies at the heart of Sudan’s ongoing crisis, and insisted that the war will only end through the will of the Sudanese people.
Statehood, Constitution, and Citizenship
In the first session titled “The Sudanese State: Peace, Unity, Constitution,” Dr. Mohamed El-Amin Ismail argued that the absence of a constitution is the core of Sudans political turmoil and advocated for a federal system among Sudans united states. Dr. Suad Mustafa criticized how security in Sudan has historically prioritized regime protection over citizen safety, while veteran economist Dr. Sidgi Kaballo analyzed the post-colonial state, noting its failure to achieve balanced development and the futility of attempted change through coups in 1969 and 1989.
In the second session on “The Civil vs. Religious State and Equal Citizenship,” journalist Madiha Abdallah noted that the debate around the civil state has remained largely theoretical. Mohamed Jamil Ahmed presented a provocative paper on the ideological contradictions in the Islamist discourse. Dr. Asmaa Ahmed Al-Naeem emphasized the absence of a social contract and called for new grassroots communication strategies to drive bottom-up solutions. Playwright Al-Sir Al-Sayed described the current war as a manifestation of the failure of the national project, overtaken by narrow political interests.
Justice, Marginalization, and Militarization
Dr. Zuhair Bashar outlined three essential elements for transitional justice: where to begin, who the stakeholders are, and mechanisms of implementation—highlighting the top-down nature of previous efforts. Dr. Zeinab Onour discussed the political challenges facing young women, while Mohamed Ali Mahla spotlighted the "Kanabi" communities, long deprived of equal citizenship. Activist Nimat Koko stressed that calls for a civil state are incomplete without pluralistic democracy and gender justice.
On the second day, discussions centered on militia proliferation and militarization. Dr. Suliman Baldo explained how militias in Sudan began as colonial tools and evolved post-1989 into a political project aligned with the Islamist movement. Writer Fadhelly Jamaa noted Sudan’s record of over 36 coup attempts since independence, turning power into an end in itself. Henady Al-Makk presented a field study from Blue Nile State highlighting how militarization deepened gender marginalization and reinforced patriarchal hierarchies. Fath Al-Aleem Abdel-Hay traced the transformation of tribal militias from local defense groups into political pressure tools. Researcher Abu Dhar Al-Amin argued that Sudans modern state inherited—and failed to reform—the colonial administrative model.
In a session on hate speech and social healing, Abdelsalam Nour El-Din reflected on the cyclical loss from every regime change. Dr. Howaida Atabani proposed using “counter-learning” to combat hate speech. Community activist Abdallah Adam Khater linked the roots of Sudans crisis to the Berlin Conference’s division of Africa. Scholar Al-Mahboub Abdelsalam advocated for a “supra-human ethic” of forgiveness and proposed a Sudanese model for transitional justice.
Abdel-Hay also delivered a paper on the “religious state,” highlighting the lack of a unified or coherent concept for this model and pointing to divergent interpretations even among Islamic movements.
Media and Diversity
The closing session focused on the role of media in the context of ethnic diversity. Journalists’ Union President Abdelmonem Abu Idris noted Sudanese medias failure to represent the country’s multicultural reality. Legal scholar Ismail El-Taj discussed the legal steps toward establishing transitional justice, and Abdeljabbar Dosa offered an alternative approach to fairness and accountability.
Speaking again to Sudanile, Daw Al-Bait asserted that solving marginalization cannot come from the center alone. It requires recognizing the marginalized as equal partners in building a new state. He called for dismantling militias and building a unified, professional national army based on democratic values, away from political and economic interests. He noted the forum’s inclusivity, including participation from Islamic currents, and described the deep discussions around religion and the state, and the feasibility of transitioning to a citizenship-based system.
He concluded by emphasizing that the forum demonstrated the potential for Sudanese dialogue despite harsh conditions and reaffirmed the need for Sudanese ownership of their political future—free from foreign intervention. External support, he stressed, must align with a purely national agenda.
Daw Al-Bait also revealed plans by the Democratic Thought Project to organize a broader youth forum to continue these discussions and build a unified national youth front capable of shaping Sudan’s future and amplifying civilian voices against war and foreign interference.
The forum brought together participants from a wide array of political and intellectual backgrounds, including Dr. Suliman Baldo, Dr. Sidgi Kaballo, Dr. Abdelsalam Nour El-Din, Dr. Al-Mahboub Abdelsalam, Dr. Al-Shafi Khidr, Ambassador Nour El-Din Sati, Dr. Mohamed El-Amin Ismail, Dr. Zuhair Bashar, Dr. Mohamed Jamil Ahmed, Dr. Asmaa El-Naeem, Faisal Mohamed Saleh, Madiha Abdallah, Nimat Koko, Dr. Howaida Atabani, Dr. Zeinab Onour, Dr. Hamid Bashir, Abdallah Adam Khater, Mohamed Ali Mahla, Dr. Henady Al-Makk, Fath Al-Aleem Abdel-Hay, Abdelmonem Abu Idris, Al-Fatih Al-Nour, Ahmed El-Tom, Abu Huraira Ahmed Abdelrahman, Sundus Mohamed El-Mustafa, and Mujahid Khater.
The Sudan Media Forum and its member organizations publish this report, prepared by Sudanile, as part of their ongoing effort to gather insights and perspectives that can help understand and resolve the Sudanese crisis—beginning with ending the war that has raged since April 2023.
