- The two met on Monday at the State House and held talks on how they will find a lasting solution to the conflict in the country.
- They discussed the recent security situation in Sudan and the region, where a war between the government army and a paramilitary wing began in April.
President William Ruto and Sudan leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan have agreed to work towards a framework for an all-inclusive dialogue. https://rb.gy/02if72
Image: PCS
President William Ruto and Sudan leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan have agreed to work towards a framework for an all-inclusive dialogue.
The two met on Monday at the State House and held talks on finding a lasting solution to the conflict in the country.
They discussed the recent security situation in Sudan and the region, where a war between the government army and a paramilitary wing began in April.
The fighting has been concentrated around the capital city of Khartoum and the Darfur region.
The United Nations in October said at least 9,000 people had been killed and more than 6,000 injured.
Ruto and General al-Burhan, who is the leader of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) also reviewed the state of ongoing peace initiatives, including the Jeddah and the IGAD peace processes.
They emphasised the urgency to find a solution to the conflict in Sudan in the shortest time possible.
In the bid to find the solution, al-Burhan and Ruto agreed to recognise the slow progress in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
They underscored the urgency to accelerate the process towards cessation of hostilities and humanitarian assistance.
"The Jeddah Process must be accelerated towards cessation of hostilities in the country," Ruto said.
The leaders also agreed to work towards the convening of an urgent IGAD Summit to find ways to accelerate the Jeddah process towards cessation of hostilities in Sudan.
The Summit will also agree on a framework for an all-inclusive Sudanese dialogue.
Ruto, who leads the IGAD sub-committee tasked with mediating an end to the war, further committed to brief the Chair of IGAD on the meeting.
The fighting in Sudan is between the General's SAF and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo also known as Hemedti.
So far, it has left more than 4.8 million persons internally displaced and at least 1.3 million others have fled the country as refugees.
The first round of talks in Jeddah, which happened last week, was faced with setbacks where SAF and RSF failed to agree on a ceasefire.
In a press statement released on Tuesday, IGAD said the co-facilitators regretted that the parties were unable to reach a deal.
It said there is no acceptable military solution to the conflict.
Saudi Arabia and IGAD - on behalf of the African Union, and the United States - had called upon the SAF and RSF to put the Sudanese people first, silence the guns, and seek a negotiated end to this needless war.
IGAD said the talks in Jeddah remain focused on facilitating the delivery of humanitarian assistance, establishing ceasefires and other confidence-building measures, and building toward a permanent cessation of hostilities.
The meeting between the President and al-Burhan signals hope considering that the latter had accused Ruto of favouring RSF.
General al-Burhan had opposed Ruto's appointment as the head of a quartet to facilitate peace under IGAD, stating that Kenya was not neutral and that it had harboured leaders of the RSF rebels.
Ruto, however, denied the allegations during the Summit for a New Global Financing Pact held in Paris in June.
"The main accusation against Kenya is that we have Hemedti in one of our hospitals in Nairobi which is not true. It is a whole false narrative," he said.
Image: PCS