Face of Truth | Ibrahim Shaglawi
Diplomacy of Approaches in a Time of War
Sudan today stands at the threshold of a critical stage that requires approaches, not speeches, and minds capable of managing war as skillfully as they master its tactics.
The address delivered yesterday by the President of the Sovereignty Council, General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, from within the Command and Control Room, came at a defining moment following the painful developments in Al-Fashir. He sought to send messages of reassurance and confidence to the internal front, messages of defiance to the militia, and reproach to the external world, affirming that victory is inevitable because the people and the army stand together in one trench for the dignity of the nation.
However, the improvisation that marked the speech squandered a precious opportunity — one that could have been used to declare a broad national front rallying around the state in its existential battle, and restoring Sudan’s political voice amid the shameful regional and international clamor.
It had been expected that the speech would outline a national roadmap transcending emotional rhetoric toward the method of political approaches the country needs at this juncture. The battle, though military in appearance, is at its core profoundly political and diplomatic. Victory on the battlefield is incomplete without victory in awareness — without reshaping the internal political scene to ensure national unity and presenting to the world a coherent narrative that reflects the justice of the Sudanese cause and the legitimacy of the state fighting for its survival.
At the very moment when the Armed Forces and the Popular Resistance in Al-Fashir repelled more than 270 coordinated and externally supported attacks, political performance was absent from the battle of steadfastness, and the diplomatic tongue failed to match the heroism on the ground.
The fall of Al-Fashir was not so much a military defeat as it was the result of the absence of a coherent political and media approach. The soldiers fought honorably, but the state lacked a political discourse equal to their sacrifices, one that could turn their resilience into diplomatic capital. What was required was a national vision that speaks to the world in the language of law and politics — not in the tones of emotion and threats.
This war has proven that the Sudanese people are resilient and refuse humiliation, and that the battlefield remains stronger than the podium. Thirty months of siege in Al-Fashir did not break the army’s will nor the city’s pride, but political and media improvisation weakened the image of the state, leaving the world with a distorted narrative authored by the faint-hearted.
The weakness of political and diplomatic action is no less dangerous than failure in the field. War is not won by weapons alone, but by the ability to construct a national narrative that encircles the enemy within global consciousness. The greatest mistake is that the official discourse has remained defensive, whereas what the stage demands is an offensive discourse — one of reason and logic — exposing the UAE’s involvement and its mercenaries in a genocidal war, and redefining the militia as a terrorist entity operating outside the law.
Conversely, the visit of the Sudanese delegation to Washington could have been turned into a platform to regain the initiative. The delegation indeed succeeded in disrupting the “Quartet Track” that sought to grant the militia political legitimacy, but it lacked organized media support and a unified national political front. Had there been a unified front bringing together political, academic, and civil forces, Sudan today would have imposed its own vision.
What is now required is to rebuild the popular, political, and diplomatic front of the Sudanese state to match the performance of the battlefield. This front is not a substitute for the military leadership, but rather a political and popular lever that gives the war its national meaning and transforms it into a project of survival. If the dependent official world has abandoned us, there is a world of free peoples ready to listen and respond. Negotiation then, if we go to it, would not be a concession, but a tool to affirm Sudan’s sovereignty and prevent the legitimization of aggression.
It is time for decision-makers to realize that modern wars are fought on four fronts: the battlefield, politics, diplomacy, and the media. The army has shown astonishing steadfastness in the field, but the other fronts remain fragile and in urgent need of rebuilding. It is unacceptable for the soldier to fight with determination while politics stammers, diplomacy hesitates, and the media speaks with uncertainty against a massive propaganda machine financed by Abu Dhabi and coordinated by regional intelligence.
The diplomacy of approaches in a time of war necessarily means moving from reaction to action, from complaint to initiative, from improvisation to planning. Sudan does not need to beg the world for sympathy, but to convince it of the justice of its struggle and the legitimacy of its national project for survival. This can only be achieved through a unified political discourse, the mobilization of the public, and redefining the cause as a war against cross-border terrorism, not an internal conflict as adversaries try to portray it.
The experience of Al-Fashir revealed that military tactics can withstand a thousand attacks, yet the weakest flank remains the absence of skillful political action. When politics errs, it squanders battlefield victories; when diplomacy is silent, traitors speak for the nation. Therefore, Sudan’s next battle is not only on the frontlines but in reclaiming political discourse and sovereignty through intelligent diplomacy that restores balance between the rifle, reason, and decision-making.
According to #Face_of_Truth, the war will not last forever, but history will not forgive those who entered it without vision. Sudan today, despite its wounds, possesses enough national determination to transform this tragedy into the birth of a new state — one that knows true strength lies not only in arms, but in the ability to awaken its people and forge the approaches that create victory and prevent the repetition of defeat.
With best regards,
Wednesday, October 29, 2025
Shglawi55@gmail.com
