The leader of the IGAD team for Sudan peace process – President Salva Kiir – has called upon Mohamed Hamdan Daglo (Hemeti), commander of the Rapid Support Forces, to send his envoy to Juba for ceasefire talks.
Kiir made the call after receiving in Juba on Monday the envoy sent by Abdel Fatah al-Burhan, commander of the Sudan armed forces who are rival with rapid support forces since.
In a meeting with President Kiir, Burhan’s envoy, Ali Dafalla al-Haj, said his boss Burhan is ready to take part in the ceasefire deal being pursued by the regional body – Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD).
“H.E. President also encouraged Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, leader of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), to take this window to also send his representative to Juba for similar visit,” Deng Dau Deng, South Sudan Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, said in a statement issued on Wednesday.
According to the statement, Kiir discussed with the Special Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nation in Sudan, Volker Perthes, who proposed that the IGAD mediation should call the warring commanders to Juba for ceasefire talks.
However, Kiir said it was not possible for the two leaders to come together at the moment but expressed willingness to host their representatives in Juba.
“While H.E. the president concurred with the proposal by the SRSG to call the two leaders to Juba, he did express that the current climate is not conducive enough for the leaders to take such an opportunity to come out of Khartoum; and that Juba is more than willing to host representatives of the two leaders to negotiate an end to the fighting,” Dau stated.
On April 16, IGAD heads of state and government agreed to send Kiir, Kenyan President William Ruto and the President of Djibouti, Ismail Omar, to Sudan to mediate peace talks between the warring parties but continuous clashes prevented them from going to Khartoum since.
Since the fighting broke out in Khartoum on April 15, more than 700 people have been killed and thousands injured. And UN said more than 700,000 Sudanese internally displaced in fighting, as of May 10.
President Kiir reiterated his call on the warring parties to cease hostilities and come to the negotiation table.
