SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Atlantic Council - Experts react: Understanding the conflict in Tigray

11/11/2020: Atlantic Council - Experts react: Understanding the conflict in Tigray

 In analysis of the impact of Ethiopia’s Tigray conflict on Sudan, Cameron Hudson, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, argues that “the significant influx of weapons, fighters, and refugees to [East Sudan] may unleash substantial new tensions that Sudan’s transitional government has already been proven ill-equipped to handle.”

 Nonetheless, Hudson suggests that Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok “has some political capital to spend” in mediating the Tigray conflict.

 Citing Hamdok’s chairing of East Africa’s regional Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), Hudson argues that Hamdok “is positioned to marshal the often-underutilized mediation and peace-making resources of IGAD.”

 Hudson also notes that Hamdok may utilise his participation in the ongoing negotiations over Ethiopia’s Grand Renaissance dam “as an important buffer …between Egypt and Ethiopia” to seek to find common ground on issues “striking at the heart of Ethiopia’s national security interests.”