Kenya has welcomed the expansion of the IGAD Troika in resolving the ongoing Sudan.
In the new formation that includes Ethiopia and Somalia, Kenya will now be the chair of the IGAD Quartet on resolving the crisis in Sudan. South Sudan is also a member.
“Kenya commits to meet the two Sudan generals face to face to find a lasting solution to the crisis.” President William Ruto has said.
He was addressing the media today in Djibouti during the 14th Ordinary meeting of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Assembly of Heads of State and Government.
In the Session, Djibouti was picked as the new IGAD Chair to be deputised by South Sudan.
Present were presidents Ismail Omar Guelleh (Djibouti), Salva Kiir (South Sudan), Hassan Mohamud (Somalia) and Prime Minister of Ethiopia Abiy Ali.
Deputy President of the Transitional Sovereignty Council of the Republic of Sudan and Representative of the Chairperson of the IGAD Assembly of Heads of State and Government Malik Akar, Executive Secretary of IGAD Workneh Gebeyehu and African Union Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki were also there.
President Ruto said a humanitarian corridor will be established in a fortnight to facilitate the delivery of aid.
“In the next three weeks, we will begin the process of an inclusive national dialogue.” President Ruto explained.
The Head of State told the meeting that this will give the people of Sudan the right forum to discuss in their diversity the issues and future political dispensation of their country.
The IGAD framework on the Sudan peace process will push Kenya back to the centre of regional peace-making initiatives
The contemplated Sudan peace process is likely to refresh memories of a similar process mediated by late President Moi through chief mediator General Lazarus Sumbeiywo, assisted by then Foreign Affairs Minister Kalonzo Musyoka, in a process that culminated with the signing of the comprehensive peace agreement in January 2005 in Naivasha signed by the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM).
The Naivasha agreement effectively ended over two decades of conflict and marked a major breakthrough that ended with birth of South Sudan in 2011.
Late this evening, diplomats in Djibouti were hammering finer details to the Sudan mediation framework proposed by the two-day summit of IGAD heads of state and government.
