Somali Magazine –Kenya’s President William Ruto has revealed that Sudanese leader Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan is committed in resolving the conflict through dialogue.
Speaking on Monday at State House-Nairobi where he hosted Al-Burhan, Ruto said the Sudanese leader is much more willing to support the ongoing Jeddah peace talk.
The visit by Al-Burhan was kept a top secret by Kenya’s diplomatic and its only leaked out to the media Monday evening. Sources within State House reveals that both Ruto and Burhan held a meeting on the sidelines of the Saudi-African Summit in Riyadh last week.
While the Nairobi meeting means that Burhan has met all the Horn of Africa leaders involved in the conflict back home, it is his meeting with Ruto that could be significant: Burhan criticised Nairobi for allegedly siding with his opponent, Mohamed Hamdani Daglo Hemedti, the leader of the Rapid Support Forces who has been fighting the Sudanese army since April 15, leaving more than 9,500 dead.
During the meeting Nairobi, they underscored the urgent need to find a solution to the conflict in Sudan in the shortest possible time.
They also agreed to recognize the slow progress in Jeddah; the leaders underscored the urgency to accelerate the process towards cessation of hostilities and humanitarian assistance”.
President Ruto and Al-Burhan agreed to plan a summit for the regional bloc Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) to find ways to accelerate the Jeddah process towards a cessation of hostilities in Sudan
The declaration could be a partial victory for both leaders. For Dr Ruto, it signals a buried hatchet with Al-Burhan, who had publicly ridiculed President Ruto and threatened to quit IGAD.
For Al-Burhan, it signals his acceptance as the legitimate leader of Sudan, despite staying in power after a coup and in a stalled transition since the ouster of Omar al-Bashir.