Sudan: Burhan reiterates rejection of Kenya's chair of IGAD Quartet

The head of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereignty Council, army commander General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, has reiterated his rejection of Kenya’s chairmanship of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Quartet High-Level Delegation for the Peace Process in Sudan, tasked with mediating the crisis in his country. Burhan made his comment amid ongoing fighting between his troops and the Rapid Support Forces in a phone call with Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mahmud, the official Sudanese news agency SUNA has reported.

The Sudanese leader briefed Mahmud on the situation in Sudan, “against the backdrop of the Rapid Support militia’s rebellion and its destruction of all the capabilities of the people.” He stressed that the Sudanese government “has spared no effort to stop the war through peaceful means, with the aim of establishing peace in Sudan.”

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Following the recent IGAD summit hosted by Djibouti, the foreign ministry in Khartoum announced its rejection of Kenya’s chairmanship of the IGAD Quartet. “The statements of senior Kenyan officials and the behaviour of its government confirm that it adopts the positions of the rebel Rapid Support Militia, shelters its members and provides them with various types of support.”

Three days earlier, during the Djibouti summit, IGAD announced the formation of the quartet headed by Kenya and South Sudan. Its other members are Ethiopia and Somalia.

Fighting between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces has been ongoing since 15 April across Sudan, albeit mostly in the capital, Khartoum. Hundreds of civilians have been killed and wounded, but there has been no official confirmation of the number of military casualties on either side of the conflict.