Abdul Fattah Burhan, head of the Sudanese Sovereign Council, told Kenyan President William Ruto that Sudan refused to deploy any African troops without the consent of the Kenyan president, while Rapid Support Forces welcomed Sovereign Council member Shams Din Kabash’s statement on being open to resolving the crisis in Sudan and safeguarding national sovereignty.
The Sudanese Sovereignty Council said in a statement that its chairman, Burhan, had received a phone call from Kenyan President Ruto. The statement also said Burhan, commander of the Sudanese army and chairman of the Sovereignty Council, confirmed that Sudan had sovereignty over its territory and that it would not be allowed to join the East African Standby Force (ISAF) without the approval of the Khartoum government.
At the same time, Burhan also emphasized that the Sudanese government is ready for a ceasefire if the Rapid Support Forces evacuate citizens’ homes, water and electricity service centers, energy and government headquarters.
According to the statement, Burhan explained to the Kenyan president why the Sudanese government had reservations about Kenya’s presidency of the quadripartite committee mandated by the Intergovernmental Organization for Development of East African States (IGAD) to resolve the crisis in Sudan.
warm welcome
Yusuf Izzat, a political adviser to the Rapid Support Forces commander, said the latter took a positive view of Sovereign Council member Shamsuddin Kabash’s remarks.
In a statement delivered directly to Al Jazeera, Izzat added that the Rapid Support Forces confirmed its commitment to the Jeddah platform and was ready to negotiate with the Sudanese army.
Khartoum, Sudan: Humanitarian situation (Al Jazeera)
In a statement to Al Jazeera, Shamsuddin Kabash, a member of the Sovereign Council of Sudan, said the council is open to all serious measures to stop the war within the framework of safeguarding the country’s sovereignty and state institutions.
Kabash pointed out that the Saudi-U.S. initiative is advancing and that the Security Council’s principled position supports broad and comprehensive political dialogue. He stressed that the comprehensive dialogue must ultimately lead to the formation of a civilian government to lead the transition and prepare the country for free and fair elections.
Kabash said Sudan needed national efforts and external support to rebuild what had been destroyed by the war.
The statements came as Sudanese government sources announced to Al Jazeera that an army delegation had returned to Jeddah to resume talks with the Rapid Support Forces. The Sudanese army suspended its participation in the talks in late May to protest what it saw as violations of the truce by the Rapid Support Forces.
battlefield development
Al Jazeera’s correspondent in the Sudanese capital reported that clashes broke out in the southern community of Omdurman (west), and pointed to the intensive flight of military warplanes.
Meanwhile, the sound of anti-aircraft weapons was heard in central Khartoum and south of Omdurman.
The military said its “special operations” unit conducted a successful qualitative operation in Omdurman, one of the capital’s three cities. The army posted video clips on its Facebook page showing its troops and vehicles patrolling the streets of the Al-Mohandiseen, Al-Awda and Hamad Al-Nil neighborhoods south of Omdurman.
Earlier on Saturday, Sudan’s health ministry said in a statement that drones from what they said were “rebel militia Rapid Support Forces” bombed the emergency room of the Omdurman Medical Weapons Hospital.
And the army accused the Rapid Support Forces of attacking the emergency complex of the Omdurman Medical Weapons Hospital with drones.
The military said five people were killed and 22 wounded in the attack, most of them civilians.
Members of the Rapid Support Forces near the Sudanese intelligence headquarters in Khartoum (Reuters)
kordofan and darfur
In South Kordofan state in western Sudan, local sources said Abdulaziz Helu’s Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (Northern Bureau) bombarded a building in the state capital, Kadugli, with heavy artillery. Residential areas in several areas, resulting in many injuries.
According to the same source, the shelling came amid ongoing violent clashes between the army and Sudan People’s Liberation Movement forces in the Hamiya Belinga area.
RSF, on the other hand, said it denied allegations in the Human Rights Watch report about events in the Maastri region of West Darfur state in western Sudan.
It added that it was prepared to cooperate with any impartial commission of inquiry established for this purpose. The Rapid Support Forces stated that the events in West Darfur were purely tribal clashes and that it was not a party to the conflict.
Human Rights Watch had accused the Rapid Support Forces and its allied militia of killing 28 people from the Masalit tribe and killing and injuring dozens of civilians in Darfur.
Notably, clashes between the army and the Rapid Support Forces, now in their fourth month, have killed more than 3,000 people, mostly civilians, and more than 3 million displaced people and refugees, according to Sudan’s health ministry and the United Nations.
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2023-07-16 08:36:29
