TASIS alliance aims to present itself as a legitimate interlocutor to the international community. It is also seeking to influence the rules of a future Sudanese national dialogue, under the watchful eye of Port Sudan.
It was a low-key meeting held in Berlin, at the same time as the international conference on Sudan on 15 April. While Tasis, also known as the Sudan Founding Alliance, the political coalition aligned with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), boycotted the conference, two of its senior figures held private talks with a delegation from the UK embassy to Sudan, relocated to the Ethiopian capital since the collapse of Khartoum. Present at the meeting were Gony Mustafa al-Sharif, the coalition’s unofficial representative to the United Nations, and Ahmed Tugod Lissan, tipped to succeed Alaeeldin Nogoud as spokesperson.
The pair sought British diplomatic backing to circulate their vision for establishing a preparatory committee intended to lay the groundwork for a Sudanese national dialogue – viewed by some as a last resort in a war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions.
The initiative comes as Tasis envoys prepare to engage members of the Quintet – comprising the European Union, African Union, Arab League, United Nations and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development. The coalition, however, faces significant obstacles. Lacking international recognition, its members are seeking to give the proposed committee a legal footing that would render its decisions binding, with some even hoping for a decree or resolution from either the African Union or the UN Security Council. Beyond mediation, facilitation and guarantees that the Quintet could provide, Tasis is also pressing the international community to shoulder the logistical costs of supporting a national dialogue process.
Struggle over representation
Another unresolved question concerns the composition of the proposed committee. Under current discussions, it would bring together Tasis and Somoud – the movement led by former prime minister Abdallah Hamdok – alongside other civil society representatives. But the distribution of seats among the various blocs has emerged as a central point of contention. Tasis, which regards itself as the dominant force in Sudan’s civilian political arena, has rejected outright any principle of equal representation.
The RSF-linked coalition is also contending with competition from the army-aligned government in Port Sudan, which intends to proceed unilaterally with its own national dialogue at the end of May, from which Tasis is set to be excluded. Since war erupted in April 2023, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan’s administration has adhered to an uncompromising line: neither the RSF nor Tasis constitute legitimate negotiating partners.
Somoud, too, faces constraints. A document submitted to Burhan’s administration four months ago by the Democratic Bloc, which is close to Burhan’s Sudanese Armed Forces, called for minimum conditions to be established before any Sudanese dialogue could begin. It urged the lifting of legal proceedings against Somoud members and the renewal of passports for several figures in the movement who remain deprived of travel documents. The request has so far gone unanswered.
