Sudan recalls Kenya envoy over paramilitary chief visit

AL-JAZIRA STATE, Sudan

Sudan recalled its ambassador from Nairobi Thursday in protest at Kenyan President William Ruto’s hosting of talks with paramilitary commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, its acting foreign minister said.

Dagalo, whose forces have been at war with the regular army led by Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan since April, has been touring African capitals on his first visit abroad of the conflict.

He already visited Uganda, Ethiopia and Djibouti as well as Kenya and is currently in South Africa, to the anger of Burhan, whose administration has lost ground to the paramilitaries in recent months and is eager to deny them international legitimacy.

In a statement carried by the official SUNA news agency, Sudan’s acting foreign minister Ali Al-Sadiq said the ambassador had been recalled “for consultations in protest of the official reception organized by the Kenyan government for the leader of the rebel militia.”

He said those consultations would “cover all possibilities for the outcome of Sudan’s relations with Kenya.”

Ties between Burhan and the Kenyan government have been strained for months, as Nairobi has sought to keep lines of communication open with Dagalo so it can mediate in the conflict.

Over the past few days, Hemetti has met with the leaders of Uganda, Ethiopia, Djibouti, and South Africa. He received official receptions with a guard of honours at the Addis Ababa airport, while he was welcomed with traditional dances at Nairobi airport before meeting President William Ruto at the presidential palace.

In contrast, the receptions hosted by President Museveni and President Cyril Ramaphosa were limited to their respective private residences, outside the presidential palaces.

Prior to this incident, Sudan’s Sovereign Council President Abdel Fattah al-Burhan had warned against treating the commander of the RSF, which is engaged in hostilities against the Sudanese army, as a legitimate representative of the Sudanese state. He had also stated that Sudan would take “appropriate measures” in response to such a reception.

It is worth noting that all heads of diplomatic missions have left Sudan and have chosen to establish offices in Port Sudan instead.

The war has killed more than 12,190 people, according to a conservative estimate from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, and forced more than seven million to flee their homes, according to UN figures.

Mediation efforts are largely at a standstill amid deep animosity between the rival generals.

Although Burhan’s administration continues to put out statements as the Sudanese government, Dagalo’s Rapid Support Forces control the streets of Khartoum as well as nearly all of Darfur and much of the central state of Al-Jazira, Sudan’s pre-war breadbasket.