Abdul Moez Hussein Al-Mukabrabi   #Gum Arabic .. As an International Negotiator (An Approach to the Jurisprudence of Strategic Conflict..!?*                                       

▪️Sudan is moving toward comprehensive renaissance with an existential will at this historic juncture and sensitive national circumstance. For a long time, strategy experts have been warning about the danger of international conflict and its impacts on the state and its national security. They stressed the importance of the state هو possessing the necessary strategic power that enables it to protect its hidden interests, supports negotiation and sovereign decision-making in the heat of the international arena, and shapes the balances of foreign policy.

Sudan lies within the circle of fierce international competition, as Sudan is endowed with vast resources of raw materials, minerals, and rich wealth that whet the appetite of major powers. This has affected its national security through sharp polarizations and violent intersections of those hostile circles. The lack of governance of the national strategy represents one of the threats to Sudanese national security, due to the marginalization of the comprehensive national strategy or its bypassing by politicians in favor of their personal, partisan, and ideological interests.

Thus, the state was run without a vision, without strategic objectives and goals, stumbling and faltering. This appears clearly in the map of its foreign policies and its political behavior in dealing with emergencies and crises only “as needed.” The state did not benefit from exploiting these strategic resources to strengthen its international relations or even to strengthen its diplomatic negotiation with major powers.

Let’s take the example of a strategic commodity: gum Arabic, which is considered one of Sudan’s most important exports and a strategic product that contributes to the Sudanese economy and GDP. The United States imports about two-thirds of Sudan’s production, which produces 80% of global production. This is the reason that made it exempt gum Arabic from the economic sanctions imposed on Sudan in the 1990s as a state sponsor of terrorism.

Gum Arabic faces major challenges due to the armed conflict in Sudan, as most of its production areas fall within regions affected by fighting. This has led to a decline in production and trade, and an increase in smuggling, which negatively affected the Sudanese economy and the future of this strategic commodity.

In contrast, experts say that the US exemption of gum Arabic from sanctions is an opportunity to put internal affairs in order and improve gum Arabic trade. They stress the need to direct gum Arabic revenues to support the local economy, improve the lives of producers, and develop its industry instead of exporting it as raw material. This is a negative approach for a country like Sudan, which has a geo-strategic location and enjoys huge and rare natural resources at the level of the world’s countries, including the United States of America.

Sudan’s strategic plan must be for agricultural expansion to lead vital projects that strengthen and boost the Sudanese economy. There must be expansion in planting gum Arabic trees according to a specialized vision from forestry experts, especially since Sudan possesses fertile areas suitable for the success of this step in expanding gum Arabic trees.

Agriculture is not just about seasons; it is an integrated system of relationships and financial and knowledge flows. Exiting the current crisis is not achieved only by developing government work mechanisms, but by building flexible production systems that absorb shocks and turn them into opportunities.

We need to dismantle the model of government dependency and build a new model based on partnership, shared responsibility, and community innovation. Unconventional solutions are not an intellectual luxury, but an existential necessity at a time when the rules of the agricultural game are changing as a strategy, not just a tactic, at the global level.