Rhino: A glimmer of hope was offered this week by ordinary Sudanese civilians, not the two armed forces vying for supremacy on the ground. On 27 May, to the sound of cheerful chants, the Coordination of Democratic Civilian Forces in Sudan, known as Taqaddam, began a four-day conference in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, chaired by Dr Abdalla Hamdok, Sudan’s last civilian prime minister.
Taqaddam seeks to mobilize the broadest possible coalition of Sudanese to stop the civil war and return the country to civilian rule.
‘Given the current state of chaos and terror, it was a minor logistical miracle that the organizers were able to gather 600 or so Sudanese delegates under one roof.
Previous such meetings of groups claiming to represent the Sudanese people have been criticized for merely gathering the usual elites ‘to defend their selfish interests.’ Mr Hamdok’s team went to great lengths to embrace the broadest spectrum of Sudanese at home and abroad.