President William Ruto met with Sudan General, Abdel-Fattah Al-Burhan at State House. The meeting came despite the Sudan General refusing Kenya’s mediation role in the Sudan War.
Ruto, as Kenya’s President, was appointed as the chair of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development quartet. This meant that he was directly in charge of ensuring peace in the war stricken country.
The Genaral refused Ruto’s involvement due to a few reasons including an allegation that he (Ruto) was aiding the leader of the Rapid Support Forces group.
In the meeting, the two leaders agreed ontwo main points. They agreed on a framework to bring peace to the warring nation and Ruto’s continued chairing of the IGAD quartet.
The framework agreed on, aims to mediate a ceasefire between the warring groups. The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) led by Al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) headed by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
“The two leaders reviewed the state of ongoing peace initiatives, including the Jeddah and the IGAD peace process,” the statement read in part.
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Previous Peace Talks
In October, the two warring factions in Sudan agreed to have peace talks in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, after Abdel-Fattah Al-Burhan’s faction rejected Ruto’s appointment as IGAD’s lead negotiator.
Despite the meeting held in the Middle East, the two failed to signal a truce seven months after the start of the civil war.
“The two leaders underscored the urgent need to find a solution for the conflict in Sudan in the shortest time possible,” read the statement.
Kenya and Sudan agreed on taking the talks away from Jeddah and back to the continent. They regretted the slow progress witnessed in Jeddah and explored ways to accelerate the process. The aim is to hasten cessation of hostilities and enhancement of humanitarian assistance.
Additionally, Al-Burhan conceded to having Kenya lead the peace talks under President William Ruto, a position he had previously rejected.
“The leaders agreed to work towards the convening of an urgent IGAD Summit to find ways to accelerate the Jeddah process towards cessation of hostilities,” the statement read in part.
On Monday, the Genaral dropped the reservations and agreed that the Summit would work for an all-inclusive Sudanese dialogue.
Read also: Kenya is Greatly Concerned – Ruto addresses Sudan Conflict that has left over 56 People Dead
