The Sudanese Foreign Ministry's statement said that options are open after inviting Hemedti to attend the summit, adding, “This shameful precedent will not only destroy IGAD's credibility as a regional organization, because it does not respect its documents and basic systems and works to undermine the sovereignty of member states.”
In the same context; The Sudanese government said in a separate statement issued by the Sovereignty Council that there is no need for the new summit that IGAD intends to hold on Thursday unless the outcomes of the previous summit held on December 9 in Djibouti are implemented, despite the Sudanese Foreign Ministry announcing its rejection at the time.
The statement explained: “We have continued to deal positively with all initiatives, especially IGAD's efforts to reach peace in Sudan, but IGAD has not committed to implementing the outcomes of the recent summit in Djibouti.”
The Djibouti summit had approved holding a meeting between Army Commander Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Hemedti on December 28 to discuss ways of the ongoing war between them since mid-April, but it later announced the postponement of the meeting due to its intention to expand participation and provide the opportunity for heads of member states and representatives of the international community to attend the meeting, which is what It was not possible at that time due to the year-end holidays.
Before the meeting was postponed, the Sudanese Foreign Ministry had rejected the outcomes of the Djibouti summit, and said in a statement that “the statement of the IGAD Secretariat does not express what came out of the summit, and is not considered a legal document.”
The Sudanese Foreign Ministry demanded that some paragraphs of the statement be deleted and that
Al-Burhan’s agreement to meet with the Rapid Support Commander be corrected because he “stipulated a permanent ceasefire and the withdrawal of forces from Khartoum.”
The outcomes of the Djibouti Summit found strong support from the international community after it emphasized support for the Jeddah Platform and the 6-point African solution map, which includes:
• A permanent ceasefire and turning Khartoum into a demilitarized capital.
• Deporting the forces of both sides of the fighting to assembly centers 50 kilometers away from Khartoum.
• Deploying African forces to guard strategic institutions in the capital.
• Addressing the poor humanitarian conditions resulting from the war.
• Involving police and security forces in the process of securing public facilities.
• Starting a political process to resolve the crisis once and for all.
These developments come about a week after Al-Burhan announced that he was blocking the possibility of direct negotiations with the commander of the Rapid Support Forces, as he said in a speech to a group of army soldiers in the Jebet military region in eastern Sudan that he would not negotiate with him.
On the other hand, Hemedti announced his acceptance of IGAD’s invitation, reiterating his commitment to the body’s outputs and negotiating with Al-Burhan in order to stop the war that led to the death of more than 12,000 people and the displacement of about 7 million from their homes.
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