Will Sudan and Eritrea Boycott IGAD?

Report by Talal Muddathir

Events seemed stormy today in the corridors of Sudanese diplomacy. There are calls here and counter-statements there, and there is a hot plate in the relationship between Sudan and IGAD, the flames of which will rise soon after the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs concluded its angry statement yesterday, Saturday, saying that Sudan’s options remain open towards IGAD in light of the authority insistence to disavow its own Statute, provisions of international law, and accepting to be a tool for conspiring against Sudan and its people. … So what is there?

Museveni’s Summit Ignites fire
The President of Djibouti – Chairman of the current session of the IGAD Organization, Ismail Omer Guelleh, on January 11, called on the members of the organization to hold an extraordinary summit in Uganda, at the end this week to discuss the situation in Sudan and the dispute between Ethiopia and Somalia.
The IGAD Secretariat did not limit itself to inviting heads of state, as it also invited the leader of the Rapid Support militia to attend the presidential summit.

America welcomes
The US State Department took the lead to welcome holding the IGAD summit in Uganda on January 18th to discuss the Somali and Ethiopian crises, in addition to developments in the Sudanese crisis.
The official account of the Office of African Affairs at the US State Department posted on the “X” platform in which it said they welcome the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) summit on January 18 regarding the tensions between Somalia and Ethiopia and the situation in Sudan.
The US State Department’s Office of African Affairs indicated that the United States supports Somalia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and reiterates its call for de-escalation and dialogue, in addition to the ceasefire and conflict resolution in Sudan.
The Sudanese sovereign Council: There is no need for the summit
Yesterday, Saturday, the Transitional Sovereign Council, led by Abdul Fattah al-Burhan, announced that it had received an invitation from the Intergovernmental Authority for Development (IGAD) to attend the Uganda summit on Sudan and the Somali problem on January 18, considering that “there is no need to hold a summit to discuss Sudan before implementing the previous summit’s outcomes.” in Djibouti”, whose final statement indicated that it was agreed that Al-Burhan and Hemedti hold a bilateral meeting, approximately 8 months after the outbreak of fighting between the two parties in Sudan. However, on December 27, Djibouti returned and informed Al-Burhan of the postponement of his meeting with the commander of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo “Hemedti” until current January, after the two parties’ scheduled meeting in the capital of Djibouti, last December 28, was not possible due to technical reasons.

Sudanese quick response
The Sudanese response to the principle of inviting the militia leader to attend the Museveni summit came quickly. Sudan took the initiative, through its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to issue a statement in which it denounced the invitation of the leader of the Janjaweed militia by IGAD secretariat to attend the emergency summit of IGAD No. 42, which it considered a flagrant violation of the principles establishing IGAD and all the rules and traditions of the work of the international organizations, and extreme disregard for the victims of genocide, ethnic cleansing, sexual violence and all the atrocities committed by Janjaweed gangs in different parts of the country.
The ministry added that one does not need to be reminded that the establishment of an organization for sovereign governments aims to promote regional peace and security, and achieve integration among member states, where there is place in it for terrorist and criminal groups, in reference to the Al-Dagalo militia.
The Sudanese Foreign Ministry was not satisfied with denouncing it, but rather rushed to direct arrows of criticism at IGAD, urgently saying that it was not satisfied with the organization observing the silent of the graveyard over the atrocities committed by the terrorist militia, which were condemned by international organizations, but rather sought to grant the militia legitimacy by calling for a meeting in which only the heads of state and government of the member states would participate.
The statement added: “This shameful precedent will not only destroy the credibility of IGAD as a regional organization, because it does not respect its documents and statute and works to undermine the sovereignty of member states, but it also represents sponsorship of terrorism, and encouragement for the groups that commit the atrocities which the region suffers from.”
The Sudanese Foreign Ministry concluded its angry statement by saying that Sudan’s options remain open towards IGAD in light of its insistence on denying its Statute and the requirements of international law, and accepting to be a tool for conspiring against Sudan and its people.
Heated situations witnessed in the corridors of Sudanese diplomacy at the beginning of this week indicate that a hot week will end with a summit in which Sudan will not be a party, or perhaps join Eritrea, which is always absent from the organization’s meetings and which it has always describes as an organization established to combat “locusts.”