On Monday, the Sudanese government refused to take part in a meeting in Addis Ababa of the “Quartet” of the East African organization Igad charged with resolving the crisis in Sudan. A meeting which was attended by a representative of the rival forces.
The war in Sudan has pitted Mohamed Hamdane Daglo’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) against the regular troops of General Abdelfattah al-Burhane since mid-April. Nearly 3,000 deaths have been recorded so far, a figure that is greatly underestimated given the inaccessibility of the bodies that litter the streets.
Comprising Kenya, Djibouti, Ethiopia and South Sudan, the Igad Quartet is chaired by the Kenyan Head of State William Ruto, whose “partiality” has been denounced by the Sudanese government.
“Our delegation arrived in Addis Ababa on Monday morning (…) but was informed that the chairmanship of the group of four had not been replaced” as the government had requested, the Sudanese foreign ministry said in a statement.
In its final communiqué, the Quartet deplored “the regrettable absence of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) delegation, although it had been invited and had confirmed its participation”.
General Mohamed Hamdane Daglo, head of the RSF, had for his part sent his political adviser to Addis Ababa. The Quartet nonetheless asserted that it was “mobilizing and concentrating the efforts of all stakeholders to bring about a face-to-face meeting between the leaders of the two warring parties”. The Quartet once again called for “the signing of an unconditional ceasefire” between the Sudanese belligerents.