Sudan junta leader Gen Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan has moved to undo any progress made by Rapid Support Forces leader Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo alias Hemedti in January.
Al Burhan, who is the Sudan Armed Forces leader, has dispatched Malik Agar Eyre, the Vice President of the Sudan Sovereignty Council, for a regional shuttle diplomacy, covering South Sudan, Uganda and Rwanda.
Accompanied by Minister of Finance Dr. Jibril Ibrahim,VP Agar on February 12 South Sudan President Salva Kiir, who triples as EAC chairman and IGAD deputy chairman.
He said the meeting involved an explanation about the current military position in Sudan and the progress made by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF).
“In our discussion we touched on the Sudanese government position of the regional initiatives from the African Union and I explained to him the reason for the freezing of our membership in IGAD and he assured me that he understood our position. We also discussed on the political movement happening recently,” he said.
Sudan withdrew from IGAD in January, accusing the regional bloc of “violating Sudan’s sovereignty” and setting a “dangerous precedent”.
The Foreign Affairs Ministry in a statement said Burhan had sent a letter to President Ismail Omar Guelleh of Djibouti, who is the IGAD chairman, informing him of the Sudanese government decision to suspend its membership. The decision came after IGAD invited Dagalo to the meeting in Uganda.
On Jeddah, the VP said the return to the negotiation table is dependent on the implementation of RSF on what was agreed upon in Jeddah, “which starts with ending the occupation of citizens’ homes among others”.
Agar also met a group of ambassadors and heads of missions of the Troika countries and the European Union in South Sudan, followed by another with African ambassadors in South Sudan and the representative of the African Union on February 14.
“”[There] a short film documenting the crimes and violations of the rebel Rapid Support Forces was presented, exposing the killings, rape of women, the ethnic targeting of citizens, the destruction of infrastructure and other violations in the long list of atrocities committed by the rebel forces in violation of the international humanitarian law and the International human rights Law. We’ve also touched on the stages of the development of the rapid support forces from the Janjaweed forces to support forces,” he said, warning of the consequences to the Horn of Africa region in the event of the collapse of Sudan.
On February 22, Agar was in Uganda to meet President Yoweri Museveni accompanied by Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Hussein Awad Ali, Maj Gen Izz al-Din Othman and Maj Gen Radallah al-Abbas.
During the meeting, Agar accused external players of financing RSF militia to kill, rape, conduct ethnic cleansing, genocide, the occupation of citizens’ homes, destruction of infrastructure, and branding it as a war aimed at achieving democracy and sometimes as a war against the Muslim Brotherhood.
“They are just slogans for the purpose of covering and political propaganda, and a justification for the violations committed by the militia, which are basically a creation of the Bashir regime. The government of Sudan is willing to end the war and seeks to do so,”the Vice President said.
As he did in South Sudan, Agar also met African ambassadors residing in Uganda and told them RSF is a product of the Bashir regime, which is using mercenaries, and cannot bring democracy to the country.
“We must all work to reject the principle of involving the humanitarian issue in the political agenda, especially in the context of conflicts in Africa that is intervened in from international actors,”he said.
The VP proceeded to Rwanda, where he met President Paul Kagame and concluded his shuttling.
In Kigali, he spoke about the extent of the violations committed by the Rapid Support Forces against citizens, including their crimes before and after April 15 in the current war.
“‘I indicated that the Government of Sudan has no objection to engaging in any political process, provided that Sudan’s sovereignty and national security are preserved and that the political process is comprehensive and without exclusion of the components of the Sudanese people. I provided President Kagame with an explanation of the Sudanese government’s road map to end the war and handed him a copy of the map,” he said.
In January, Hemedti visited the region, in which he met Kenya’s President William Ruto on January 3, Museveni on December 27, then Ethiopia Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Demeke Mekonnen on December 28 and President Guelleh on December 31.
