Eritrea has opposed the IGAD intervention in Sudan, saying the conflict is a domestic issue that should be left to the Sudanese people to solve.
Speaking after his meeting with President Isaias Afwerki in Asmara on Sunday, Vice President of the Sudanese Sovereignty Council Malik Agar Eyre said the mediation initiatives proposed from within the region were discussed.
“The President of Eritrea informed me that his country stands behind the Sudanese people and that the current initiatives are political bazaars in which Eritrea cannot engage in, knowing that what is happening in Sudan is an internal matter concerning the Sudanese, and that external interference will complicate matters exponentially,” Malik said in a statement on Sunday.
Instead, Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki declared that his country is ready to support Sudan whenever it’s requested, and that they are backing the unity and sovereignty of Sudan and its land, as well as the Sudanese people.
Malik added that during the meeting, he gave Afwerki a detailed explanation about the situation in Sudan after the rebellion of the Rapid Support Forces, the secretions of the war politically and economically, and the human suffering facing the Sudanese at home and at the border crossings with neighboring countries.
“And I appreciated the clarity of the position of the Eritrean side since the first day of the war in Sudan,” Mali said.
This came just as Kenya President William Ruto prepared to host the inaugural IGAD quartet mediation meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Monday morning.
The meeting brings together the heads of state and government members of the quartet mediation on the Sudanese crisis that is Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, and South Sudan.
Sudan Foreign Affairs Ministry Spokesperson is reported to have said Sudan would skip the meeting. Khartoum has also rejected the leadership of President Ruto, accusing his of having a relationship with Rapid Support Forces leader Mohamed Hamdan Daglo “Hemetti, a claim he has denied.
“It is natural for Burhan to decline the invitation to the summit. Sudan is not interested in any proposal from IGAD under Kenya’s chairmanship of the committee to address the crisis,” the spokesman said.
Afwerki’s remarks contradict the position of African Union, which has welcomed IGAD’s intervention in Sudan.
“I, therefore, call for total unity between the Regional and Continental Organisations, IGAD and AU. This is the sine qua non condition for the effectiveness of our solidarity with Sudan. It is the imperative for mitigating foreign interference. It is the sine qua non condition for mobilising our partners and getting them to adhere to this fundamental principle of African solutions to African problems, of which The Sudanese crisis is the prototype,” AU Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki said during the 14th Ordinary Summit.
The war has also caused a humanitarian crisis that is overflowing in the region, with hundreds of thousands of Sudanese refugees fleeing to Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya and South Sudan.
