The Military Junta of Sudan declined to take part in a regional peace conference intended to put an end to nearly three months of horrific conflict. Kenya, which presided over the discussions, was accused by Sudan of favouring the opposing paramilitaries.
Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the head of the Sudanese army, and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) leader, were engaged in a power struggle that erupted into war in the middle of April and has since resulted in the displacement of millions of people.
While hostilities continued to flare throughout Sudan, the east African regional group IGAD had summoned the adversaries to a summit in Ethiopia’s capital on Monday.
Although the RSF sent a delegate to the “quartet” meeting presided over by Kenya, South Sudan, Djibouti, and Ethiopia, neither Burhan nor Dagalo physically attended the meetings in Addis Ababa.
According to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, over 3,000 people have died in the violence since April 15. However, the actual death toll is likely far higher because some areas of the country are still inaccessible.
According to the International Organisation for Migration, an additional three million individuals have either been internally displaced or have migrated across borders.
The UN warned on Sunday that Sudan was “on the brink of a full-scale civil war, potentially destabilising the entire region,” despite several diplomatic efforts to stop the fighting producing only fleeting respites.
The United States and Saudi Arabia have previously mediated peace agreements, but the east African group now wants to take the lead.
The foreign ministry of Sudan, meanwhile, announced on Monday that its delegation would not take part until Kenya’s request to serve as the discussions’ chair was granted.
The ministry had asked for “Kenyan President William Ruto (to) be replaced. in particular because of his partiality”, the statement said.