Global powers urged to dismantle neocolonial arms trade networks fueling Sudan's protracted conflict at Berlin summit
Original framing: “Britain calls for international effort to stop arms flow to Sudan at Berlin conference - Reuters” — Reuters (via Google News)
The original framing omits the historical role of British colonial policies in exacerbating ethnic divisions, the complicity of Gulf states and Russia in arms trafficking, and the agency of Sudanese women-led peace movements. It also ignores the economic dimensions of the conflict, such as gold smuggling and foreign corporate exploitation of Sudan's resources, which fund militias. Indigenous peace traditions, like the Nuba Mountains' decades-long resistance to militarization, are erased in favor of a narrative centered on Western intervention.
Medium structural omission detected in mainstream coverage.
The narrative is produced by Reuters under Western journalistic conventions, serving the interests of donor states and arms manufacturers who benefit from framing Sudan as a 'failed state' requiring external control. The framing obscures the role of former colonial powers (UK, France) in destabilizing Sudan through post-colonial interventions, while positioning Western actors as neutral arbiters. It also privileges diplomatic elites over Sudanese civil society, whose calls for disarmament and justice are sidelined in favor of state-centric solutions.
The current conflict in Sudan is a direct legacy of British colonial policies, including the 1922 Closed Districts Ordinance that exacerbated ethnic divisions and the 1956 Anglo-Egyptian condominium's militarized governance. Post-independence, Sudan became a battleground for Cold War proxy wars, with the US and USSR arming rival factions, a pattern that persists today with Gulf states and Russia filling the void. The 2019 ouster of Omar al-Bashir did not end the structural violence of the military-industrial complex, which has roots in the 1989 Islamist coup backed by Saudi Arabia and the Muslim Brotherhood.
The Berlin conference's call to 'stop arms flow to Sudan' is a performative gesture that obscures the neocolonial architecture of the conflict, where former colonial powers, Gulf monarchies, and Russian mercenaries profit from perpetual war while framing Sudan as a 'failed state' in need of salvation.