Sudan rejects IGAD mediation as Somalia sets date with Ethiopia

Sudan's Army Chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan. PHOTO | CHRISTOPHE ENA | AFP

KHARTOUM - The military-backed Sudanese government has rejected the Inter-Governmental Authority for Development (IGAD) mediation with Rapid Support Forces (RSF) scheduled for 18th January 2024 in Kampala, Uganda, authorities have confirmed.

Djibouti President Omar Guelleh had summoned member states, the African Union, and international partners for an Extraordinary summit in Uganda to discuss the turmoil in Sudan and the looming conflict between Somalia and Ethiopia.

The Ethiopia and Somalia conflict talks will go on as scheduled but the Sudanese government has pulled out, even as it continues to lose territory to RSF under General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who has been meeting various leaders across East Africa.

Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the leader of the military council, insisted that "the events in Sudan are an internal matter". IGAD has been pushing for reconciliation between the two groups whose differences triggered armed clashes in Sudan's capital, Khartoum.

In contrast, Daglo, fresh from a tour of six African capitals, said on X, formerly Twitter, that he had accepted the invitation from IGAD and would be attending the summit in Uganda. Sudan's foreign ministry said inviting Daglo was a "flagrant violation" and "destroys the credibility of IGAD" as an institution.

"Not only has IGAD been silent as a grave over the atrocities of the terrorist militia, but it has also sought to grant the militia legitimacy by inviting it to a meeting attended only by member state heads of state and government," it charged.

With Daglo visiting several African countries and being given recognition, Burhan has developed cold feet, accusing African leaders who hosted him on his recent tour of complicity in atrocities against Sudanese civilians

Analysts say the army chief is growing more and more isolated diplomatically, as his troops fail to halt RSF advances, The AFP reports.

The war has killed more than 13,000 people, according to a conservative estimate by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data project. Some 7.5 million civilians have fled the fighting, according to UN figures.

Both sides have been accused of war crimes, including the indiscriminate shelling of residential areas, torture, and arbitrary detention of civilians. The RSF has also specifically been accused of ethnically-motivated mass killings, rampant looting, and the use of rape as a weapon of war.

In the eastern city of Port Sudan, which is now home to Burhan's government, acting foreign minister Ali al-Sadiq told newly arrived UN envoy Ramtane Lamamra that Sudan "rejects" a recent contact between UN chief Antonio Guterres and Daglo, according to a statement carried by official news agency SUNA.

Sadiq said he informed Lamamra that the UN chief's phone call on Thursday served to "legitimize" Daglo, "the leader of a movement that has committed horrific violations that have been condemned by some UN institutions as well as the majority of the international community."

GAROWE ONLINE