Kenya conspicuously missed out when leaders from Sudan’s seven neighbouring countries met in Cairo, and agreed to a new initiative under the leadership of Egypt, to resolve the deteriorating conflict in the North-East African country.
Leaders of Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Chad, South Sudan, the Central African Republic (CAR) and Libya called a critical meeting to try look for ways of ending the Sudan violence to avoid a humanitarian crisis.
Also present in the meeting was the African Union and the Arab League.
It is not clear why Kenya missed out on the talks to try resolve one of the stubbornest conflicts on this part of the continent.
Kenya is leading a quartet of East African leaders who launched their own initiative under the auspices of the regional body, IGAD after being unimpressed by African Union’s handling of the Sudan conflict.
A quartet – made up of the leaders of Kenya, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Djibouti – was appointed to seek a ceasefire, humanitarian access and political dialogue in order to restore Sudan’s transition to democracy.
Kenya’s push to mediate the conflict has attracted opposition even from Sudan.
The meeting, which is the most high-profile since fighting erupted across Sudan three months ago, was hosted by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi.
Sudan has been rocked by violence since April 15, when tensions between the military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) degenerated into open exchange of fire, a conflict that has killed more than 3,000 people, according to data from June. The actual death toll, though, is likely to be much higher, according to doctors and activists.
President el-Sissi outlined an initiative to establish a lasting cease-fire, create safe humanitarian corridors for aid delivery, and build a dialogue framework that would include all Sudanese political parties and figures.
Though similar to previous commitments signed by Sudan’s rivals in the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah in May, which ultimately floundered, this latest plan was backed by all seven neighbours, as well as Sudan’s military and the paramilitary RSF.
Since April, the rivals had agreed to at least ten cease-fires that failed.
Earlier talks in Jeddah, which were brokered by the kingdom and the United States, broke down last month as both sides repeatedly failed to stop fighting and violated cease-fire agreements.
Early this week, the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), an eight-member East African bloc that’s also part of the African Union, held talks between Sudan’s rival forces.
However, Sudan’s military delegation refused to attend the meeting and accused Kenyan President William Ruto, who headed the talks, of siding with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces because of his purported business ties with the family of the RSF commander.
Sudan’s government, which is controlled by the military, reiterated its calls to replace the Kenyan leader as the chair of the Quartet.
El-Sissi urged Sudan’s warring sides to commit to African Union-led cease-fire negotiations, while Suliman Baldo, director of the think tank Sudan Transparency and Policy Tracker, said the past failings indicate that the summit in Egypt is unlikely to come up with quick solutions to the conflict.
The 12 weeks of fighting between the army and the RSF have turned Khartoum, Sudan’s capital, into an urban battlefield.
The conflict forced more than 2.4 million people to flee their homes for safer areas inside the country, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Around 738,000 others have crossed into neighboring countries, the agency said.
Meanwhile, the United Nations has said bodies of dozens of people allegedly killed by Sudanese paramilitary and allied militia have been uncovered in a mass grave in West Darfur.
Darfur has been one of the epicentres of the 12-week conflict, morphing into ethnic violence with RSF troops and allied Arab militias attacking African ethnic groups.
Earlier this week Human Rights Watch called for the International Criminal Court to investigate atrocities in Darfur.
