IGAD Sends South Sudan’s Kiir, Ruto to Mediate in Sudan’s Conflict

A virtual meeting of the IGAD regional leaders held on April 16, 2023 (IGAD photo)

April 16, 2023 (JUBA) – The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) has agreed to send South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir, Kenya’s William Ruto and  Ismail Omar Guelleh of Djibouti to help broker a ceasefire in the conflict in Sudan.

The decision was reached at Sunday’s virtual meeting to discuss Sudan’s conflict.

Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni and Hassan Sheikh Mohamud of Somalia also attended the meeting.

On April 15, 2023, armed clashes erupted between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in heavily populated parts of the capital, Khartoum, and spread to other cities including in the Darfur region. The clashes follow weeks of rising tensions between the two forces over security force reform during negotiations for a new transitional government and was preceded by the SAF and RSF jointly overthrowing Sudan’s transitional government in October 2021.

Regional leaders urged Sudan’s military leader Gen. Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and the RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo to end fighting and pursue dialogue.

The leaders Sudan’s stability is key to the social and economic stability of the region.

During the virtual meeting, regional leaders also asked the two groups to provide a safe corridor for humanitarian assistance in Khartoum and other affected towns.

Meanwhile the Kenyan President has earlier expressed his concern about the current crisis in Sudan, following outbreak of clashes between the SAF and RSF.

Ruto, in a statement Sudan Tribune obtained, appealed to all the parties involved in the military violence in Sudan to seek peaceful solutions to their differences.

He said Kenya and the IGAD states are available to help resolve the crisis, stressing that the recent outbreak of violence in Sudan would only lead to the reversal of important gains, ultimately affecting the lasting peace and prosperity of Sudan.

Reports say over 90 people have been killed and hundreds injured in the clashes.

(ST)