By Charles K Mark
The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) on Friday called for an immediate and unconditioned ceasefire in the raging Sudan conflict.
The IGAD leaders echoed the call during the 42nd extraordinary summit convened this week in Entebbe, Uganda.
The regional bloc also demanded the heads of the states put an end to the escalating diplomatic tensions between Ethiopia and Somalia.
In a communique seen by this outlet, the leaders worry that the situation poses a threat to the progress made in sustaining peace and stability in the region.
“Concerned by the continued fighting in the Republic of Sudan and the dire security and humanitarian situation occasioned by the war, reiterated its call for the parties to the conflict to commit to dialogue and negotiation; and in this regard, expressed IGAD’s continued readiness to offer its good offices to facilitate an all-inclusive peace process to end the conflict in close collaboration with all Sudanese stakeholders, AU, and regional and international actors,” the statement.
The IGAD directed the two fighting generals (in Sudan) to meet within two weeks to discuss ways of ending the raging conflict.
“Stressed that IGAD Member States will utilize all means and capabilities to ensure the conflict in the Sudan is resolved peacefully and directed the IGAD Secretariat to provide an update to the Assembly.”
Heads of state from South Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, Somalia, and Djibouti committed through the summit to forge a peaceful solution to the crises facing the region.
They also pledged to prevent further escalation of violence and instability that could threaten their ties.
Last year, South Sudan’s government reserved its readiness to lead the mediation process for ending the conflict in Sudan, referring the parties to the IGAD-Quartet-led process.
And yet Sudan’s Sovereign Council Chairman, Gen. Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, had made a clear position, considering Kiir a better mediator for resolving the Sudan war.
Meanwhile, in his first public visit since the start of the war in mid-April, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, aka ‘Hemedti’, met with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.
In the same week, the leader of Sudan’s RSF also visited Ethiopia on a rare foreign trip as war raged.
The trip by the paramilitary group’s leader came a week after his forces captured Sudan’s second-largest city, according to Al Jazeera reports.