Africa-Press – Uganda. President Museveni has offered to support peace talks between the warring parties in Sudan to put an end to the civil war that broke out on April 15, claiming about 10,000 lives and injuring more than 12,000 people.
This was revealed by Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the leader of Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia, on Wednesday, shortly after meeting Mr Museveni at his country home in Rwakitura, Kiruhura District.
Two armed forces, one led by Gen Dagalo and another by the army chief, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, also the chairman of the Transitional Sovereign Council, have been fighting for close to eight months.
The former attempted to overthrow the latter with whom they seized power together from the former president al-Bashir through a coup in 2021.
Gen Dagalo said in the statement that President Museveni tasked him to explain the genesis of the war, which he did.
Sudan civilians rush for arms as paramilitaries advance
Sudanese paramilitary leader Daglo meets Museveni
“I provided His Excellency President Museveni with a detailed explanation about the reasons for the outbreak of the war, which was ignited by the remnants with the help of their leaders in the armed forces and the parties that obstruct the solution and support the continuation of the war,” reads part of the statement.
Gen Dagalo said Mr Museveni affirmed his full support to the people of Sudan and promised to work towards advancing efforts aimed at achieving peace and stability.
“He said he will harness all his capabilities and relationships to help the Sudanese people overcome this difficult stage in their history,” Gen Dagalo added.
A few minutes after Mr Museveni confirmed his meeting with Gen Dagalo via his X-platform, the State House released a statement where it explained that the two leaders discussed numerous issues, including bilateral ties and most importantly, putting an end to the war among them.
Neither Gen Dagalo nor State House explained whether the President’s intended support towards peace talks is being done under the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (Igad) where the two countries are members.
When asked, the deputy presidential press secretary, Mr Faruk Kirunda, said: “None of us attended the meeting. We were just briefed on what took place, which we have released in the statement.”
Both the State Minister for Regional Corporation, Mr John Mulimba, and his ICT and Information counterpart, Dr Chris Baryomunsi, who is the official government spokesperson, were unavailable for comment as their known phone contacts were off by press time.
This particular meeting came barely two months after Mr Museveni met Gen al-Burhan on September 16 in another closed-door meeting at State House Entebbe where only deliberations on bilateral and regional issues were brought to light that day.
Dagalo skips peace talks
The two warring leaders were yesterday expected to meet in Djibouti for the first face-to-face peace talks but Gen Dagalo did not appear, prompting Djibouti, which currently holds the Igad mantle, to postpone the meeting to early January.
Without giving exact dates, Djibouti’s ministry of foreign affairs in a letter to its member states, said the meeting [between Gen Dagalo and al-Burhan that had been] re-scheduled for “December 28 [yesterday] has been postponed to early January 2024 for technical reasons,”
Gen Dagalo had on Wednesday reaffirmed that: “We still adhere to the outcomes of the Igad Presidents’ Summit held in Djibouti, and we will continue to implement what we committed to end the war, relieve the suffering of our people, and restore security and stability to our country.”
He further said he got a letter from the former Sudan prime minister, who is also the leader of the Coordination of Civil Democratic Forces (CCDF), calling them to an urgent meeting to discuss strategies to end the war and address its impacts.
“With a sense of urgency and responsibility, I embrace the prospect of holding this critical meeting as soon as possible. We will immediately begin to discuss the meeting arrangements. We welcome all national initiatives aimed at fostering peace and reducing the hardships resulting from this war,” Gen Dagalo said.
His failure to appear in Djibouti due to technical issues was, however, dismissed by RSF adviser Yousif Izzat, who told the Voice of America (VOA) News that the ministry’s claim was simply “fake news,” but did not as well explain his boss’s failure to appear.
The VOA in the same report said an anonymous source familiar with the matter had informed them that the meeting’s postponement was because of “disagreements” between the two parties, but the source did not give further details.
The two leaders have for several months been placed under pressure by the international community to work towards ending the war.
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