Nairobi-Al-Yurae- (AFP) – Lieutenant General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, commander of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which is at war with Sudan’s military, arrived in Kenya on Wednesday for a new stop on a tour of East Africa where diplomatic efforts for peace negotiations are stepping up.
Kenyan President William Ruto said that the ongoing Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) talks should lead to a political settlement that will ensure lasting peace in Sudan. He made this statement during his meeting with Rapid Support Forces (RSF) Leader General… pic.twitter.com/Yir1AG9zFe
— CGTN Africa (@cgtnafrica) January 3, 2024
Kenyan President William Ruto received the commander of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), praising in a post on the X website his “commitment (…) to ending the conflict in Sudan through dialogue.”
“The ongoing talks led by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development in East Africa (IGAD) must lead to a political settlement that allows for lasting peace in the country,” he said.
Dagalo said discussions with Ruto focused on the latest developments in Sudan, “studying the root causes of the war and finding solutions to alleviate the crisis and the suffering of our people.” “I have presented our strategy for a cessation of hostilities and the start of negotiations to reach a comprehensive solution,” he said on the X website.
His subsequent press conference in Nairobi was cancelled.
A week ago, Dagalo toured Uganda, Ethiopia and Djibouti, on his first official visits abroad since the war in Sudan began in mid-April.
The tour comes at a time when IGAD is headed by Djibouti, redoubling its efforts to get him and the commander of the Sudanese army, Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, to negotiate.
The two military commanders have not met since a war that killed 12,000 people, according to ACLID, which is believed to be lower than the actual toll. The fighting has also displaced more than seven million people, according to the United Nations.
At various stops, General Dagalo doubled down on signs of openness, saying that in Uganda he had presented his “vision to start negotiations”, discussed in Ethiopia “the need to put a quick end to this war” and in Djibouti assured President Ismail Omar Guelleh of his desire to “end the war and reach a comprehensive solution”.
‘Crucial meeting’ in Djibouti
During his December 31st visit to Djibouti, Foreign Minister Mahmoud Ali Yusuf announced via X (formerly Twitter) that “next week, Djibouti, which chairs IGAD, will pave the way for dialogue in Sudan and host a crucial meeting.”
An IGAD meeting between the parties to the conflict was scheduled for December 28 in Djibouti, but was “postponed to early January for technical reasons”.
Previous mediation attempts so far have led to only brief truces that have not been respected.
The conflict has recently expanded to the central-eastern state of Gezira, which until then had been spared and turned into a refuge for half a million people.
The Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which controls most of the capital Khartoum, captured Wad Madani, the state capital that serves as a hub for humanitarian aid, and advanced towards the south of the country.
IGAD has eight member states: Kenya, Djibouti, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Sudan, Somalia, Uganda and Eritrea.
