Sudanese army boycotts first IGAD Quartet meeting, RSF absent at Cairo summit

As the fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) enters its twelvth week, the pace of negotiations is accelerating, with various locations of the sessions and new actors getting involved.

The first weeks of the conflict were limited to the Jeddah negotiations aimed at a short-term ceasefire in order to open safe paths for evacuating those trapped amidst the fighting in Khartoum and distributing humanitarian aid in the most affected states of Khartoum and Darfur.

It cannot be said that the Jeddah negotiations, which were mediated by Saudi and the UAE, were very successful despite the stick policy that America pursued in imposing sanctions on both parties.

The Jeddah table was criticized for being exclusive to the conflicting parties while ignoring the Sudanese civilian component. This prompted the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) to create a new platform in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, which was inaugurated on Monday, July 10.

The first meeting was attended by members of the IGAD Quartet, including the presidents of Kenya and Ethiopia and representatives of Djibouti and South Sudan. Also present were the African Union Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, as well as representatives of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the European Union, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, the United States, and Britain.

While the representative of the RSF attended the IGAD Quartet session to implement the Sudanese peace roadmap, the representative of the SAF was absent, objecting to Kenya's presidency of the meeting despite their presence in Addis Ababa.

In a statement, the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, “Unfortunately, it became clear to our delegation that the presidency of the Quartet has not been changed,” noting that “the Government of Sudan demanded a change of the presidency of President of the Republic of Kenya William Ruto to the Quartet.”

The Sudanese government, which has been headed by Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan since his coup against the transitional civilian government in October 2021, accuses the Kenyan government of not being neutral and of supporting and sheltering members of the Rapid Support Forces.

The Sudanese government is also calling for the return of the presidency of South Sudan to the IGAD Quartet, which first included three countries (Kenya, Djibouti, and South Sudan), before expanding it in June by including Ethiopia and transferring the presidency to Kenya.

While the final statement of the IGAD meeting emphasized respect for Sudan's sovereignty, it requested 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.” It also emphasized the “centrality of IGAD in coordinating the different diplomatic tracks alongside the African Union to harmonize all efforts in a coordinated and collaborative framework that demonstrates unity of purpose to deliver a real and lasting peace deal for the people of Sudan.”

On the other hand, a Sudanese political delegation arrived in Addis Ababa as part of a regional tour that started in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, last week. The delegation includes leaders of political parties and armed movements that signed the framework agreement in December last year and were part of the transitional government before the war broke out in mid-April.

According to a statement to Jusoor Post, Sudanese journalist Ali Al-Main said that the regional civil forces tour will include Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Sudan and Chad, in addition to the Arab Gulf countries and Egypt.

“The tour aims to mobilize regional support, clarify how the war damages Sudan, the future consequences, and how to stop it as soon as possible,” he added.

In the same context, the Egyptian prime ministership held a meeting of Sudan's neighboring countries in Cairo on Thursday, July 13.

Titled Sudan’s Neighboring Countries Summit, the Cairo gathering called for an inclusive dialogue for the political and civil forces in Sudan to start a comprehensive political process.

The participants (Egypt, Eritrea, South Sudan, Central Africa, South Africa, Chad, and Ethiopia, the African Union, and the Arab League) also stressed their full respect for “Sudan's sovereignty and territorial integrity, non-interference in its affairs, and considering the current conflict an internal matter,” according to the final statement delivered by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.

The summit also called for establishing a "mechanism" on the level of foreign ministers of the participating countries to hold its first meeting in Chad “to develop an executive action plan to stop the fighting and reach a comprehensive solution to the crisis in Sudan.”

It was announced by Sudanese media that the Cairo summit was attended by the Sudanese delegation headed by Malik Agar, deputy chairman of the Transitional Sovereignty Council (TSC), and Sudanese Foreign Minister Ali Al-Sadiq. However, no representative of the RSF was reported to have participated.