Overstepping the National Will: When Individual Initiatives Become a Breach of State Sovereignty
By Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Zubair Basha
At a critical juncture in Sudan’s history—and as the war waged by an alliance of mercenaries and militias against the Sudanese state and its people continues—another, quieter but no less dangerous threat emerges: the threat of unofficial delegations acting on behalf of the nation without authorization, traveling to foreign capitals to discuss existential matters related to sovereignty, war, and peace.
The recent meeting between a delegation of political and social figures and the official responsible for Sudanese affairs at Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs—regardless of the declared intentions—constitutes a dangerous precedent. This is especially true while the Sudanese Armed Forces, bolstered by overwhelming popular support, are fighting a battle for existence against a militia that commits massacres, uses thousands of civilians as human shields, and has forcibly disappeared thousands into illegal detention centers for two years.
Who authorized this delegation? And in what capacity does it speak on behalf of Sudan in Tehran?
No party—no matter how loud its voice or how many slogans it carries—has the right to speak for Sudan or discuss its strategic choices without a mandate from the state and its official institutions. What happened in Tehran can only be seen as an attempt to bypass the state and send the wrong message abroad, as if Sudan were a fragmented nation with competing authorities and clashing voices in the absence of law.
International law is clear on this matter. The Charter of the United Nations, in Article 2 (Paragraph 1), states:
“The Organization is based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all its Members.”
This means that the state alone—not individuals or groups—has the exclusive right to represent itself before other nations. Furthermore, Article 2 (Paragraph 4) of the UN Charter emphasizes respect for political boundaries and non-interference in the internal affairs of states:
“All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.”
The UN General Assembly Resolution 2625 of 1970, on the principles of international law concerning friendly relations, goes even further by affirming:
“Each state has the right to choose its political, economic, social, and cultural system without interference from any other state.”
Diplomacy is not an individual activity—it is a sovereign practice that must not be left to personal whims or partisan calculations.
Respecting sovereignty is not a slogan to raise only against our enemies. It is a moral and political commitment we must uphold at home before we demand it abroad. We either stand behind our state and armed forces in this existential battle, or we risk becoming entangled in a dangerous game that serves only the invading enemy and paves the way for the internationalization of our cause through political infiltration and internal strife.
Every Sudanese has the right to dream of a free and democratic nation. But no one has the right to shape that future through foreign platforms without returning to the people and their legitimate institutions.
A nation. Institutions.
Sudan—first and always.
