The Sudanese government rejected the replacement of President Salva Kiir as head of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) mediation team on the Sudanese conflict.
In a communique on Tuesday, June 13 marking the end of the IGAD summit in Djibouti, the regional bloc which also mediated South Sudan’s revitalized peace agreement said that Kenyan President William Ruto will take over from Kiir who was assigned following the outbreak of the Sudanese conflict.
On Tuesday, the Sudanese foreign ministry expressed disagreement with the decision of the regional bloc and demanded that Kiir is maintained as head of the mediation team.
“Sudan expressed its disagreement and objection to a number of paragraphs that were mentioned in the draft final statement of the summit due to the fact that they were not discussed and agreed upon, and the delegation called on the IGAD Secretariat to delete them,” the foreign ministry statement said.
“These paragraphs relate to changing the presidency of the IGAD Committee, as the delegation demanded that the chairman be retained as Salva Kiir Mayardit to chair the committee and demanded the deletion of any reference to the subject of mediation,” it added.
IGAD is currently leading efforts to bring the Sudanese parties to a negotiating table.
A four-member mediation team comprising Ethiopia, South Sudan, Kenya, and Djibouti is organizing talks between the Sudanese rivals.
Kenya said it is yet to get an official statement from Khartoum on the same.
Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Singoei Korir said they are yet to be informed on the issue and that the decision can only be vacated by the IGAD summit.
“No official communication on this yet. But both the inclusion of Ethiopian PM Abiy Ahmed to the Troika mandated to seek peace in SudanCrisis and appointment of William Ruto lead the Quartet was arrived at by the IGAD Summit & can only be vacated by the Summit.”
