Govt keeps tabs on war in Sudan

Uganda is closely monitoring the delicate security situation in Sudan, where hundreds of its citizens are trapped, with calls to the warring factions to cease fighting.

Kampala is on high alert amid fears fighting in its neighbour to the north could spill to other countries in teh region despite a ceasefire that got underway last evening.

Sudan was plunged into the latest round of fighting on April 14 after a paramilitary group, Rapid Support Forces (RSF), alleged attacked government positions in the capital Khartoum.

Mr John Mulimba, the Regional Cooperation minister, told Parliament yesterday that the Ugandan government is actively involved in efforts to end the fighting, and has submitted proposals to the fact-finding mission.

“The government, working with other regional and international partners, continues to monitor the situation andurges the actors to stop fighting and return to constructive dialogue and to re-commit to the principles of the transitional process as the only way that will lead to national reconciliation and peace,” he said, reading from a prepared text.

He added: “President Museveni under the auspices of [the] Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (Igad) appealed to the warring sides to cease fighting and return to the negotiating table … he has been in consultation with the Chairperson of the African Union and his regional counterparts under Igad and [a] proposal has been sent to the fact-finding mission to Khartoum.”  

President Museveni condemned the fighting as a misuse of force “that undermines all progress made through dialogue over the last many months”.

“We cannot keep papering over mistakes of unprincipled politics year after year,” State House quoted him as having said in a statement issued following an emergency virtual Igad member states’ meeting.

At yesterday’s sitting in Kampala, Mr Thomas Tayebwa, the deputy speaker of Parliament, tasked the Foreign Affairs ministry to appraise legislators regularly about the fragile Sudan situation and fate of Ugandans trapped there. 

Fighting continues despite 24-hour ceasefire

Fighting continued in areas of Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, after a ceasefire was broken last night. 

In particular, the battle has not stopped around the army headquarters by the airport in the city centre, which is surrounded by residential areas.

Two rival generals at the heart of the conflict had agreed to a 24-hour humanitarian pause to allow civilians to get medical help and supplies British diplomat Martins Griffith, the United Nations under-secretary for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, claimed in a tweet that aid workers were being attacked and sexually violated. 

South Sudan President Gen Salva Kiir, his Kenyan counterpart William Ruto and Djibouti’s Ismail Omar Guelleh were expected to fly to Khartoum, to lead a shuttle diplomacy authorised by leaders of Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (Igad) regional bloc.

An emergency sitting of African Union’s Peace and Security Council dispatched the continental body’s Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki to “immediately” head to Sudan to press for an end to violence and return to the table.

In New York, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterress demanded an immediate cessation of hostilities, restoration of calm and opening of humanitarian corridors.

The World Health Organisation Director General Tedros Ghebreyesus echoed concerns about safety of medical facilities and staff in areas enveloped in violence.

Separately, both the United States and United Kingdom called for an end to fighting, with top American diplomat Anthony Blinken holding telephone conversations with Sudan army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his arch-rival Mohamed Hamden HamedtiDagalo, commander of the powerful Rapid Support Forces (RSF). 

“There’s also a very strongly shared view about the need for General’s Burhan and Hemeti to ensure the protection of civilians and non-combatants, as well as people from third countries, including our personnel who are located in Sudan,” he reportedly said, adding, “And also a strongly held view, again, across all of our partners on the need for an immediate ceasefire and a return to talks.” 

Leaders of the Arab League, where Sudan is a member, in an emergency meeting in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, asked the conflicting parties to stop the bloodshed, a demand echoed by G7 foreign ministers during a summit in Japan. 

The Group of Seven most industrialised countries consists of Japan, Germany, France, Canada, Italy, the US and the United Kingdom (UK).

British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly called for an immediate cessation of violence, a return to the talks “which seem to be heading in the direction of a civilian government”.

“We will continue working both with our close friends in the United States of America and our friends, in Africa, and the wider Arab world to bring about that move towards a peace and a civilian democracy,” he said.

Violence erupted and quickly snowballed in Khartoum following a fall-out between Gen al-Burhan’s forces and Gen Dagalo’s fighters following plans to integrate the latter’s mighty RSF fighters into the mainstream Sudan army, which would weaken him militarily and politically.
The UN yesterday put the death toll from the brutal clashes, which followed weeks of simmering tensions between the generals who had united to topple long-serving ruler Omar el-Bashir in 2019, at 180. 

The fatalities were expected to rise, according to other sources.  In a joint communique issued in Karuizawa, Japan, the G7 foreign ministers denounced the outbreak of violence and urged the warring parties to unconditionally end it.

“We strongly condemn the ongoing fighting between the Sudan Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which threatens the security and safety of Sudanese civilians and undermines efforts to restore Sudan’s democratic transition,” the member noted. 

*Additional reporting by BBC