President Cyril Ramaphosa had his work cut out when he took on the chairmanship of the African Union this year.

He is committed to steering the continental body along its final bumpy stretch of road to the ambitious goal of silencing the Guns in 2020.

More importantly, the bean counters argue, he  has to oversee  the final implementation of the African Free Trade Agreement.

Both of these face an existential threat from COVID 19.

Silencing the guns means ending all wars, civil conflict, violence conflict, and gender-based violence on the continent.

Herculean does not being to describe this task.

Since their inception, African conflicts have gobbled up the lion’s share of United Nations peacekeeping operations.

Deploying the blue helmets currently takes up an amount approaching $8 billion a year. That is $1 billion more than the overall budget of the world organisation.

Of the 13 active UN peacekeeping operations around the planet, no fewer than seven – Western Sahara, Darfur, Central African Republic, Abyei, South Sudan, Mali and the Democratic Republic of Congo – are in Africa.

The latter is the largest and most expensive blue helmet operation, taking up 20 000 of the 100 000 UN peacekeepers deployed worldwide.

To put some perspective on this, the number of UN troops deployed in the DRC is half the number of US troops stationed in Germany.

The United States currently picks up 28% of the UN peacekeeping tab which is less than one percent of total US defense spending – about as much as Washington spends in a month on its military operation in Afghanistan.

African leaders have for a time sought to pay more for peacekeeping in their determination to give credibility to the principle of African solutions for African problems. 

The best they can manage is a 25:75 split in costs with  the UN and this has yet to be inked.

As the battle with the COVID 19 pandemic turns the G7 economies on their heads, African countries know that they will feel the cost even  more keenly.

They are having to go to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund for money simply to feed their people.

The Bretton Woods institutions are obliged to make their assistance conditional on the recipients adhering to strict austerity policies.

Silencing the Guns and implementing an African Free Trade Agreement are undeniably desirable.

Silencing the Nevertheless AU chairman Cyril Ramaphosa will be hard pressed to convince the lenders that these projects take priority over fiscal discipline and  financing the bare necessities.  

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But although the transitional government in Khartoum accepts the  inevitability of this, there are many hurdles to clear before it happens.

The extradition of ousted President Omar Al Bashir and other members of his regime wanted by the International Criminal Court is an integral part of peace negotiations on Darfur.

Khartoum authorities are saying its rests very heavily on a sustainable agreement being negotiated on Sudan’s troubled western region.

Most importantly it depends on what happens after the ICC has tried Al Bashir.

Sudan’s new government wants him back home to stand trial for crimes committed since the 1998 coup that brought him to power.

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Al Bashir, currently serving a sentence in Sudan for corruption, is wanted by the court in The Hague for genocide and crimes against humanity.

During peace talks in Darfur, the Khartoum government said anyone wanted by the ICC would have to face the international tribunal.

Chief among these is Omar Al Bashir, indicted for his part in the deaths of more than 300 000 and displacement of two-and-a-half million in the Darfur conflict that began in 2003 and became the worst humanitarian crisis on the planet.

Al Bashir also faces charges in Sudan for the deaths of protestors leading up to his being deposed last April.

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An audience increasing in number and enthusiasm is waiting for the resumption of negotiations on the future governance of Sudan.

The most involved and therefore the most passionate are the Sudanese themselves.

They are divided between civilians seeking complete change from the 30-year regime of ousted President Omar Al Bashir and the military desperately trying to maintain the status quo by clinging to power at any cost.

The African continent is deeply immersed in the future of its second largest member.

The African Union has taken the unprecedented step of suspending Sudan under its current military junta because of the June 3 slaying of at least 118 unarmed pro-democracy activists.

The AU red card will be enforced until the Transitional Military Council hands power to a civilian led administration.

There is skepticism about  exactly what muscle the continental body can bring to bear on the generals.

However, there is no gainsaying that the AU has at last taken up the role it was designed to in 2002 when it replaced the cosy coterie of Organisation of African Unity  leaders who refused to criticize each other let alone interfere in their affairs.

The AU, following the genocide in Rwanda, determined that it would intervene to stop crimes against humanity, war crimes, genocide and gross human rights violations.

The reluctance all too often to take decisive actions has undermined the credibility of the body.

Those concerned with human rights are hoping the AU has turned a corner by acting against the Khartoum junta.

When it seemed that the prospect for negotiations had died along with the demonstrators outside military headquarters in the Sudanese capital, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed flew in to offer his services as mediator.

Both military and civilian leaders accepted Ahmed who has built a considerable reputation by making peace with Eritrea and Somalia.

He left behind in Khartoum an official  Mahmoud Dirir who is the source of optimism about negotiations resuming.

Details are lacking, but Dirir does have undertakings from the Alliance for Freedom and Change and the Sudan Professionals Association to call off the general strike which has brought the economy of the country to a standstill this week.

He also has a promise from the generals to release political prisoners taken since the June 3 massacre.

These groups have a mountain to climb.

They have made virtually no progress in talks designed to agree on the composition of a transitional administration leading to elections.

Ahmed is expected back in Sudan this week to continue his face-to-face efforts.

He is understood to have proposed  15-person body consisting of eight civilians and seven soldiers.

The civilian groups have six pre-conditions for a resumption of talks:

The removal of soldiers from the streets of Khartoum and other Sudanese cities;

An international investigation into the June 3 killings;

The release of political detainees;

Restoration of the internet;

Press freedom; and 

The Transitional Military Council accepting responsibility for the attacks on protestors.

Also headed for Khartoum is the United States Assistant Secretary of State For Africa Tibor Nagy.

The U.S. holds a big stick over Sudan because if only recently removed it from the list of terror-sponsoring countries which attract American sanctions.

Nagy’s brief is to get an assurance from the military that it will not again attack demonstrators and to secure an atmosphere conducive for negotiations.

Activist film star George Clooney, who co-founded the watchdog called The Sentinel with former African Affairs Director at the U.S. National Security Council John  Prendergast, says Washington must use political and diplomatic weapons to give substance to Nagy’s mission.

Having been involved Darfur in the early 2000s, when it was the worst humanitarian crisis on the planet, Clooney is well versed in the iniquities of the Sudanese military and particularly its paramilitary terror group known as the janjaweed who now go by the more anodyne name of the Rapid Support Force.

The Sentinel is in the business of cutting off the financial stream to groups violating human rights and promoting violence in conflict zones like Darfur

Clooney says the U.S. Treasury must  issue an anti-money-laundering advisory to banks around the world to stop the illicit financial flows to human rights offenders and corrupt officials in  Sudan.

He points out that Washington has done this in Venezuela and Ukraine.

Using the 2016 Global Magnitsky Act, and eliciting the help of allies in Europe and Africa,  Clooney says the Trump Administration can ensure there are consequences for the military regime in Sudan and particularly the janjaweed.

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He says this will give muscle to calls for restraint by the military against civilian protestors made by Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Tibor Nagy who was in Khartoum yesterday.

George Clooney founded the watchdog group called The Sentry with former African Affairs director at the National Security Council John Prendergast.

He says they’re looking to ensure there are consequences for Sudan’s  military junta and the paramilitary janjaweed  they deployed a Darfur a decade ago and Khartoum today.

But he’s urging the US Treasury to issue an international anti money laundering advisory, like it did against Venezuela and Ukraine, to stop illicit financial flows from Sudan

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The exact composition of a sovereign authority with a civilian majority will be agreed and signed today.

The agreement comes a day after security forces are accused of firing live rounds at protestors killing at least five. An army major has also been shot.

The Military council that deposed President Omar Al Bashir last month denies the shooting and blames what it calls infiltrators trying to scuttle any peace deal.

Military spokesman General Yasser Al Atta says the first six months of the transition period will be spent securing peace deals with rebels in conflict zones including Darfur, Blue Nile and South Kordofan,

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The Sudanese Professional Association, which has organized months of mass protests calling for Al Bashir’s fall has distanced itself from this say, saying it will only accept a civilian transitional administration.

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The Sudanese Army’s named Ahmed Awad Ibn Auf as head of the transitional council.

There’s no word of the whereabouts of President Omar Al Bashir.

Security authorities will be at pains to keep him out of the clutches of the International Criminal Court where he has been indicted for war crimes in Darfur.

Saudi Arabia and Egypt have both offered him asylum.

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Initial plans to had Defence Minister Ahmed Awad Ibn Auf head that body have been rejected by protestors who forced Al Bashir’s departure.

The Sudanese Professional Association that led months of protests against President Omar Al Bashir insist they won’t accept any transitional government headed by a military figure.

They say the military leadership of Sudan since independence in 1956 has caused at least five coups d’etats, two civil wars a genocidal struggle in Darfur and the secession of South Sudan

Determined to take the protestors on board, the military commanders are seeking a compromise transitional arrangement before making the special announcement that Sudanese have been awaiting since 5am today.

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Three weeks of bloody protests  calling for Al Bashir’s departure have left more than 40 people dead.

Sudanese telecoms billionaire Mo Ibrahim awards an annual prize of $5-million for good governance to a former African leader.

He says he hates impunity. 

But  there is a case for lifting the ICC indictment on Omar Al Bashir – conditional on his stepping down – if it will save lives and spare Sudan a bloody civil war.

The ICC charge, dating back to 2009, alleges Al Bashir engaged in crimes against humanity in putting down  a separatist rebellion in Darfur

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Darfur is particularly hard hit because so many of its people are poorly housed in refugee camps.

Ten of the drowning deaths have occurred in Sudan’s Nile State.

Four miners were drowned in North State – underlining the danger posed to those making their living by delving.

Two people drowned in Niergetiti in Central Darfur four people died of fever and diarrhea.

The Sudanese government says Darfur is at peace after a genocide that killed at least 400 000. But it has not been able to moved three million displaced people out of makeshift shelters into permanent accommodation.

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