Sudan says it suspends contact with IGAD mediation group

A view of streets as clashes continue between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) despite the agreement on cease fire in Khartoum, Sudan on April 30, 2023 [Ömer Erdem – Anadolu Agency]

Sudan has suspended its involvement in mediation efforts with IGAD, a group of East African nations that has sought to broker talks between the army and the paramilitary force it has been fighting for months, the Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday, Reuters reports.

IGAD had offered to mediate between the heads of the Sudanese army and the Rapid Forces (RSF), including hosting a meeting – to which both men had agreed.

The Foreign Ministry said in a statement that dealings with IGAD were suspended after the regional group added Sudan to the agenda of a meeting scheduled for 18 January in Kampala, Uganda, and invited RSF leader, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, to attend.

Hemedti recently emerged from months under cover to visit several African countries and meet Sudanese pro-democracy political figures.

The war in Sudan erupted in mid-April over a plan for a political transition away from military rule. It has caused a major humanitarian crisis, devastated the capital, Khartoum, and sparked waves of ethnically driven killings in Darfur.

READ: Agencies consider new aid route into Sudan as humanitarian crisis worsens

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