President of Sudan’s Sovereignty Council, Abdul Fattah Al-Burhan, has declined an invitation to attend a summit with Rapid Support Forces (RSF) leader, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (known as “Hemedti”). This news comes at a time when Rapid Support Forces sites in Khartoum have been subjected to aerial attacks.
Al-Burhan’s refusal to attend the meeting, summoned by the IGAD-formed Quartet Committee, raises questions about the future path of conflict resolution in the region. The source indicated that while the Rapid Support Forces have agreed to the meeting and nominated their representatives, the Sudanese Army has declined.
Simultaneously, with this proposed bilateral summit, another summit featuring the heads of the Quartet Committee, Kenya, Djibouti, Ethiopia, and South Sudan, is expected to take place. However, some absences are anticipated following a deeper understanding of Sudan’s previously expressed reservations about the IGAD initiative.
Sudan’s objections to Kenya’s leadership of the Quartet Committee, formed by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) on June 12, take on renewed significance in light of al-Burhan’s apology.
In addition to arranging a meeting between al-Burhan and Hamidti, the IGAD initiative calls for the leadership of the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces to commit to establishing a humanitarian corridor and initiating a comprehensive political process to achieve a political settlement to the conflict in Sudan.
