Face-to-face meeting between warring Sudanese leaders stalls

By Awan Achiek

The anticipated face-to-face meeting between the head of the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF), Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has been postponed due to “technical reasons.

 The meeting facilitated by regional body, the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) was scheduled to take place on Thursday in Djibouti, according to a statement issued on Wednesday by Djibouti’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“The meeting scheduled in Djibouti on the 28th December 2023 has been postponed to early 2024 for technical reasons,” it said.

The proposed meeting aims to bring an end to the conflict that erupted since April 15 2023.

It disclosed that the exact date for the face-to-face meeting would be communicated in due time.

The Sudan conflict which erupted on 15 April 2023 between SAF and RSF has killed than 10,000 people and displaced 7 million, according to United Nations.

The two leaders have never met physically since the war erupted in Khartoum.

On Thursday, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo Hemedti, leader of RSF arrived in Addis Ababa after his visit to Uganda on Wednesday, in his first public appearance, where he held meeting with President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni.