The Sudanese government has rejected the IGAD resolution that considers deploying the East Africa Standby Forces to Sudan to safeguard citizens and humanitarian access.
On Monday, the meeting of the heads of State and governments of the IGAD Quartet Group resolved in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia “to request the East Africa Standby Force (EASF) summit to convene in order to consider the possible deployment of the EASF for the protection of civilians and guarantee humanitarian access,”
“The Government of Sudan affirms hereby its refusal to deploy any foreign troops to Sudan and will consider them aggressors” the statement from the Sudan foreign ministry reads on Tuesday.
The quartet group also regretted the boycott of the meeting by the Sudanese delegation but the foreign ministry statement said the presence of the Sudanese delegation to Addis Ababa before the start of the meeting and, its prior contact with the organizer of the meeting confirmed Sudan’s genuine desire to engage in finding solutions to the country crisis.
“And that what was stated in the Quartet’s final statement regarding the absence of our delegation is sheer inaccurate and unrealistic. For the sake of credibility, it was expected that the Quartet’s statement indicates that the non-participation of the delegation of the Government of Sudan is due to its clear objection to President William Ruto’s presidency of the Quartet,” it partly reads.
However, the statement welcomes the summit of neighboring countries, which will be hosted by the Arab Republic of Egypt on July 13, 2023, to discuss the crisis in Sudan, in line with its position that welcomed the Jeddah initiative.
