When Will Sudanese Elites Rise to Save the Sudan?

Sudan is currently passing through one of the most painful and complex moments in its history. War is tearing apart the country’s geography, the economy is staggering toward collapse, and society groans under the weight of crises that leave no room for the luxury of waiting´-or-the indulgence of futile debate. In the midst of this dark landscape, urgent questions arise that cannot simply be ignored: Where are the Sudanese elites in all of this? Why have they remained trapped in the role of distant observers analyzing and describing the crisis from afar? And when will they find the courage to move from commentary to action, from the language of analysis to the language of solutions?
In a striking paradox, Malik Agar, the deputy of General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, recently appeared with a surprising call to envision the future and rebuild Sudan with a new mindset one that places, at the forefront of its priorities, the reconstruction of the Sudanese human being himself: in consciousness, spirit, and values. He also called for the unification of efforts and the adoption of a team-oriented spirit to drive investment and economic activity through Sudanese minds and hands, alongside the activation of anti-corruption laws, stricter institutional accountability, and the cultivation of a culture of development.
As is typical in Sudan’s troubled reality, this call did not pass quietly. It quickly triggered a wave of ridicule, rejection, and support. Some greeted it with sarcasm, others with hostility, while many chose silence an attitude no less negative than outright opposition. This division was not-limit-ed to the general public-;- it extended to a broad segment of Sudan’s educated class, who are expected to possess a greater ability to examine issues objectively, beyond personalities and toward the substance of ideas.
Despite my profound reservations regarding Malik Agar’s political career marked as it has been by fluctuations and controversial, at times deeply troubling, positions the idea he raised in this particular regard is not one that can reasonably be dismissed. Sudan indeed requires a comprehensive process of reconstruction one that begins with the human being before the stone, with awareness before infrastructure.
In my view, the real problem does not lie in such statements as much as it lies in the state of disorientation that has gripped Sudanese elites for decades. These elites, who were supposed to serve as the compass and living conscience of society, have too often become part of the crisis itself. Since the dawn of independence, Sudan has suffered from a painful paradox: a country rich in natural resources and abundant in educated human capital, yet unable to rise and build. Instead of stepping forward to lead a rational project for governing the state, many elites became preoccupied with personal ambitions, sectarian loyalties, and narrow affiliations, drowning in sterile debates that build neither a state nor rescue a nation.
Thus, Sudan has remained trapped in the same vicious cycle: crises giving birth to new crises, divisions feeding further divisions, and wars begetting more wars. The latest chapter of this tragedy is the current war, which has torn apart the country’s geography and exhausted the Sudanese people to an unbearable degree.
Yet even now, most Sudanese elites remain confined to the realm of analysis and interpretation. They analyze the crisis, explain it, and write about it but rarely move into the realm of genuine action. It is as if their role ends at diagnosing the illness, without ever taking a single step toward prescribing the cure.
The time has come for this equation to change.
It is time for Sudanese elites to recognize that history does not remember spectators-;- it remembers those who possessed the courage to make a difference in critical moments. Nations are not built by anger alone, nor revived by good intentions alone, nor governed by improvisation and endless argument. They are built through knowledge, advanced through planning, and managed by minds that know what they want and how to achieve it.
Today, more than ever, Sudan desperately needs this kind of thinking. Our country does not need more political statements, nor another flood of emotional speeches. What it urgently requires is a scientific and practical national program, clear in vision, precise in its objectives, grounded in our real capabilities, and capable of answering, without evasion, the fundamental questions:
What will we do?
Who will do it?
How will we do it?
And when will we do it?
The political, security, and economic conditions in Sudan do not tolerate hesitation, nor do they allow time to be wasted in fruitless arguments. We are living through a decisive historical moment one that does not accept procrastination and does not forgive inaction.
Therefore, the historical responsibility of Sudanese elites requires them to step forward and lay the scientific foundations for managing the state and rebuilding its renaissance. The first step in this path is clear: the preparation of a comprehensive national strategy for managing the Sudanese state in its entirety, without excluding any region´-or-sector a strategy that represents an integrated vision rather than scattered initiatives´-or-isolated efforts.
This project can begin by forming specialized working groups based on scientific and professional disciplines, with the door open to volunteers of expertise and competence to participate in this national effort. These groups would be responsible for developing comprehensive sectoral strategies covering health, education, the economy, agriculture, infrastructure, public administration, and beyond.
Such strategies should define overarching objectives, develop short-, medium-, and long-term implementation plans, estimate costs and available resources, establish mechanisms for monitoring and evaluation, and present a clear vision for the structure of governance and the administrative organization of the state, including the requirements for public service positions while taking into account the complex financial, political, security, and social realities Sudan faces today.
Once these sectoral strategies are completed, they can be integrated into a comprehensive national strategy, which should then be presented transparently to the Sudanese people so they may freely decide upon it without guardianship´-or-imposition.
Some may argue that certain political forces´-or-entities already possess visions´-or-strategies. Yet the truth is that what has been presented so far rarely goes beyond emotional slogans and vague promises, lacking the scientific and practical foundations required. A serious strategy is not built upon wishes, nor on excessive reliance on external actors. It must be grounded first and foremost in our own real and available capacities, and it must rely on accurate information and clear statistics elements that are largely absent from most proposals currently on the table,-limit-ed as they already are.
The Sudanese people are not waiting for more sterile debates from their educated elites, nor for political bickering,´-or-statements of condemnation and solidarity. They are waiting for these elites to place their knowledge and expertise at the service of this wounded nation to transform knowledge into plans, and experience into programs and practical visions capable of implementation.
Sudan today stands at a historic crossroads. Either the Sudanese elites step forward to save the nation and build the future,´-or-they remain silent and hesitant forcing the entire country to pay the price.
History will not be merciful to those who lag behind. Future generations will not forget who had the courage to build and who failed, content merely to watch.
Today, Sudan needs action, courage, and rational thinking, not more analysis, fruitless arguments, and diversions.

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