Sudan FM expresses observations against IGAD Communique

Agencies – Sudan Events

The Sudanese ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued a statement criticizing the final communique issued by IGAD Secretariat, sahying it contains a number of points uponwhichj sudan has strong reservations and demanded they be corrected duly before it would recognize the communique. (Sudan Events) publishes hereafter an unofficial translation of the statement

The Republic of Sudan
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Office of the Official Spokesperson and Media Department

With reference to what was issued by the IGAD Secretariat on behalf of the Heads of State and Government at the Emergency Summit No. 41 on December 10, 2023, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would like to clarify the following points:

1- The IGAD Heads of State and Government Summit was held yesterday, Saturday, December 9, 2023, in Djibouti, for one day, where an open session was held, followed by a closed consultation session for the Presidents only. Due to time constraints, the IGAD Secretariat was unable to prepare a draft of the final communique until late yesterday evening, and the IGAD presidency announced that the draft would be sent the same night to member states for approval, so that the final statement would be issued today, Sunday, December 10, 2023, but the draft statement was not sent until today morning.
2- Immediately after receiving the draft statement, Sudan informed the IGAD Secretariat that Sudan has fundamental observations and reservations about the draft, as the Sudanese delegation noted that there were paragraphs that were inserted into the draft without justification, in addition to the flawed wording of what was agreed upon on some important issues, such that it did not reflect the reality of what had been reached.
3- In a clear violation of what the statute requires of issuing decisions by consensus among members, the secretariat quickly made public a final communique without including the observations and reservations made by the Sudanese delegation. Therefore, Sudan does not consider this statement to represent what came out of the summit, and that it is meaningless until the IGAD presidency and its secretariat corrects this.
4- The comments made by the Sudanese delegation on the draft final statement were summarized as follows:-
a- Delete the reference to the participation of the Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the United Arab Emirates in the summit, as that did not happen.
b- Delete the reference to the heads of IGAD holding consultations with the delegation of the dissolved Rapid Support militia, and this contradicts the truth, as the President of the Transitional Sovereignty Council, who is one of the heads of IGAD, did not participate or hear about the consultations with the representatives of the rebellion, knowing that the delegation of the rebellion arrived on the plane of the Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of UAE.
C- Correction of what was reported regarding an approval of the President of the Transitional Sovereign Council to meet the leader of the rebellion. As the president stipulated as precondition for such a meeting be held, the adoption of a permanent ceasefire, and the eviction of the rebel forces from the capital and they be assembled in areas outside of it.
d- Delete the paragraph that refers to a phone call between the heads of IGAD and the rebel leader, as this call took place between the Kenyan president and the rebel leader after the end of the summit, and therefore is not considered part of the work of the summit, until it is referred to in the final statement.
e- Amend the paragraph condemning foreign interventions so that it does not include equating the armed forces with the insurgency.
f- Include a reference to the Arab Republic of Egypt presenting the “Sudan Neighboring Countries Initiative” in the paragraph that talks about initiatives to resolve the crisis in Sudan.
g- Stipulate the need of consulting with the Government of Sudan and obtaining its approval in any effort to resolve the crisis.
h- Since none of these observations has been taken into account, the statement lacks consistency and is therefore not considered a legal document of IGAD.

Issued on Sunday, December 10, 2023