{"id":7715,"date":"2023-12-14T13:26:01","date_gmt":"2023-12-14T13:26:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/?p=7715"},"modified":"2023-12-14T13:26:01","modified_gmt":"2023-12-14T13:26:01","slug":"renewed-sudan-igad-tensionwill-war-logic-prevail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/2023\/12\/14\/renewed-sudan-igad-tensionwill-war-logic-prevail\/","title":{"rendered":"Renewed Sudan-IGAD Tension\u2026Will War Logic Prevail?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Al-Nour Ahmed Al-Nour<\/strong><\/p>\n

Khartoum – Renewed tension between Sudan and the Intergovernmental Authority for the Development (IGAD) after the Sudanese Foreign Ministry rejected major points contained in the final communiqu\u00e9 of the emergency IGAD leaders\u2019 summit which was devoted to discussing the Sudanese crisis, and approved steps to stop the war, that has been raging in the country since mid-April, unabated, according to analysts.
\nOn Sunday, the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced reservations and observations about the final communiqu\u00e9 of the IGAD leaders and heads of government summit, convened on Saturday in Djibouti, saying a priori the draft communiqu\u00e9 landed later than what was initially agreed upon.
\nThe President of the Sudanese Sovereign Council, Abdul Fattah Al-Burhan, approved the implementation of a permanent ceasefire in the country, and the departure of the Rapid Support Forces from Khartoum before meeting with its commander, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti), the Sudanese Foreign Ministry underlined in its statement.
\nTensions erupted between Sudan and IGAD last July when the Sudanese delegation withdrew from the summit of leaders of countries in the region that was held in the Ethiopian capital in protest against Kenyan President William Ruto chairing the Quartet set to work on how to resolve the Sudanese crisis. It charged Ruto was not neutral. Sudan threatened to suspend its membership within the African organization, of which he was a leading founder in 1996.
\nLast November, the President of the Sovereign Council, Abdul Fattah Al-Burhan, visited most of IGAD states, his tour included Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Djibouti. The tension was resolved, and Al-Burhan demanded that a summit meeting be convened for the leaders of the countries of the region to adopt steps that would lead to ending the war in his country.
\nThe summit, hosted by Djibouti, recommended holding a face to face meeting between Al-Burhan and the commander of the Rapid Support Forces, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo \u201cHemedti,\u201d within 15 days after the implementation of a ceasefire. It also approved an expanded umbrella of 22 countries and regional and international organizations concerned with the Sudan dossier, and a mechanism from \u201cIGAD\u201d and the African Union and the United Nations to address the crisis and initiate a political process that brings together the Sudanese parties.<\/p>\n

External fingers
\nThe Sudanese Acting Foreign Minister, Ali Al-Sadiq, reveals that the intervention of external parties and pressure from African and regional parties on \u201cIGAD\u201d resulted in negligence of the ministry’s observations on the draft communiqu\u00e9 that was sent a day after the summit was concluded, and it was issued in a defective manner that does not express the summit, nor the pre-conditions that Al-Burhan set for holding a meeting with Hemedti.
\nHe stated in an interview broadcast on the official Sudan TV, Monday, that Al-Burhan set as a prerequisite eviction of (RSF) from citizens’ homes and utilities, and that the RSF troops be gathered in areas outside the cities, and a comprehensive ceasefire be observed prior to his meeting with Hemedti. But the IGAD communiqu\u00e9 stated that there was an agreement to meet, but failed to mention the preconditions demanded by Burhan.
\nHe said the communique mentioned that the Kenyan President made a phone call with Hemedti, and that some leaders of the IGAD countries conferred with the UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and leaders of the RSF after the summit. The ministry said these were activities held outside the summit and that therefore should not figure in the final communiqu\u00e9 of the summit.
\nAli Al-Sadiq argued that he received a phone call from his Djiboutian counterpart the day before the summit, conveying to him the desire of President Ismail Omar Guelleh to invite leaders from the (RSF) to attend the summit, but \u201cwe informed him of our refusal to presence of any militia or rebels, given that the summit is only concerned with the leaders of the countries of the region.\u201d But what happened later was seen as a conspiracy against the Sudan.
\nHemedti sets a precondition
\nOn the other hand, the RSF welcomed the results of the extraordinary IGAD summit and said that they had received an official invitation to attend the summit, which they accepted on the condition that the representative of the other party attend in his capacity as a representative of the armed forces only.
\nA statement by the RSF said, “It became clear that Al-Burhan attended in his capacity as head of the Sovereign Council, and he does not have constitutional or legal legitimacy, nor legitimacy on the ground that qualifies him for the position. Therefore, our delegation refrained from attending the official session, despite its presence at the summit venue.”
\nHe said, \u201cThe RSF delegation held a meeting with the leaders participating in the summit, and Hemedti also spoke to them by phone,\u201d stressing the RSF\u2019s desire to achieve a ceasefire and move forward with a political process provided that it leads to addressing the roots causes of the crisis in Sudan.
\nAccording to the Communiqu\u00e9, the attendees asked Hemedti to hold an official meeting with Al-Burhan, and he agreed provided that that he comes to the proposed meeting in his capacity as army commander, and not as President of the Sovereign Council.
\nBreakdown of trust
\nThe researcher in African affairs, Abbas Mohammed Salih, believes that Sudan deals in misplaced good faith with regional organizations such as IGAD, which are not guided by strict loyalty to the institution, adherence to the principles of consensus, and respect for the positions of member states.
\nIn an interview with Al Jazeera Net, the researcher considers Sudan\u2019s objection to the final communiqu\u00e9 of the African Summit a dangerous precedent that raises questions about the extent of the organization\u2019s ability to realize the role of a neutral mediator free from external influences, despite the great international support for African institutions as stakeholders and partners in peace and security.
\nSalih believes that Sudan\u2019s reservations are related to fundamental issues that can only be overcome by including them in a new communiqu\u00e9, and this is not possible, or that Sudan will ignore the outcomes of the summit and abstain from dealing with them and thus they will remain unresolved.
\nHe explains that Al-Burhan fell into a carefully set trap, as his understandings with the Kenyan and Djiboutian presidents and the Ethiopian prime minister that paved the way for the summit went unheeded, destroying the bridges of trust with these parties.
\nHe adds that the tension between Sudan and the African Organization will disrupt the role of IGAD and the African Union and create a vacuum, which will encourage \u201cfinancial cheque diplomacy\u201d within regional institutions, leading to competition between actors in the organization at the expense of resolving the Sudanese crisis.
\nThe researcher believes that there are indications that the Jeddah platform, sponsored by the United States and Saudi Arabia, has been bypassed, as it has failed to stop the war, in light of Africans\u2019 complaints of marginalization. However, the tension raised by the IGAD communiqu\u00e9 lost an opportunity for the emergence of a new African-led mediation, and also puts African institutions in doubt and challenges their ability to mediate to resolve the Sudan crisis and end any other conflicts plaguing the African continent.
\nNo Prospect for a solution
\nFor his part, journalist and political analyst Khalid Al-Tijani believes that IGAD does not have sufficient capabilities to play a role in the region\u2019s issues, and is being used by external parties, and the recurrence of its crisis with Sudan indicates that it is intentional and not a coincidence.
\nAl-Tijani told Al-Jazeera Net, “Issuing a communiqu\u00e9 from the summit not agreed upon does not give reassurance towards an honest mediator\u201d. He believes that the decision to have recourse to IGAD did not take into account its previous negative experiences in Sudan.”
\nRegarding the chances of success of the African Organization\u2019s efforts, Al-Tajjani explains that there is a lack of trust, and there is no appropriate atmosphere for negotiations between the warring parties, which will lead to a prolongation of the war.
\nHe believes that there is no external solution to the Sudanese crisis, because foreign parties have conflicting agendas, and there is no national will to stop the war.
\nRegarding the outcome of the situation in Sudan, Al-Tijani believes that the longer foreign interventions continue, the more complicated the crisis will become, and there is no political solution in the horizon, which makes the logic of war and guns prevail during the next stage.
\nSource: Al Jazeera<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Al-Nour Ahmed Al-Nour Khartoum – Renewed tension between Sudan and the Intergovernmental Authority for the Development (IGAD) after the Sudanese Foreign Ministry rejected major points contained in the final communiqu\u00e9 of the emergency IGAD leaders\u2019 summit which was devoted to discussing the Sudanese crisis, and approved steps to stop the war, that has been raging …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7716,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7715"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7715\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7717,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7715\/revisions\/7717"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}