The government of conflict-torn Sudan has officially announced its decision to suspend its membership in the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a regional bloc in East Africa, the Sudanese Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.
The development follows an earlier announcement by Khartoum earlier this week that it was suspending relations with IGAD. The rift stems from IGAD's invitation to General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) — which has been actively engaged in conflict with the Sudanese army — to attend a summit in Uganda focusing on the Sudanese conflict.
In a statement released by the Sudanese Foreign Ministry, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Chairman of the Sudanese Sovereign Council and Commander of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), sent a letter to President Ismail Omar Guelleh of Djibouti, the current chairman of IGAD, formally notifying the organization of Sudan's decision to suspend its membership.
Tensions escalated during the recent IGAD summit in Uganda, to which both warring parties to the Sudanese conflict were invited, as well as representatives of civilian political forces led by the country's former civilian prime minister, Abdalla Hamdok, who was deposed in a military coup led by al-Burhan and Dagalo in October 2021. Al-Burhan declined the invitation, citing Dagalo's planned attendance.
At the summit, IGAD reiterated its call for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in the Sudanese conflict, expressed its willingness to facilitate an all-inclusive peace process, and called for a face-to-face meeting between the warring factions. However, the Sudanese Foreign Ministry cited the summit's agenda, which was introduced without Sudan's consent, as a key factor in the decision to suspend its membership.
Violent clashes between the Sudanese army and RSF broke out in April. Since then, the parties to the conflict have declared a number of temporary nationwide ceasefires, but none have helped to resolve the conflict. Both sides have been implicated in allegations of war crimes, including indiscriminate shelling of residential areas, torture, and arbitrary detention of civilians, with the RSF in particular accused of ethnically motivated mass killings, looting, and sexual violence.
Despite international efforts, including those by IGAD, the United States, and Saudi Arabia, to mediate between the warring parties, the resolution remains elusive.
Notably, Gen. Dagalo embarked on a tour of several African capitals in late December 2023 and early January, his first foreign trip since the conflict began last April. In Addis Ababa, Dagalo signed a declaration with former Prime Minister Hamdok, who also attended the IGAD summit.