Burhan’s envoy attempts to shore up ties with neighbours after RSF outreach | | AW

Khartoum

Malik Agar, the newly appointed vice-chairman of the Transitional Sovereignty Council in Sudan, is serving as a presidential envoy to neighboring countries, a role that could be crucial for future army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan as the rapid support Struggle with pulls force.

Burhan last month sacked paramilitary RSF leader General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo as deputy chairman of Sudan’s sovereign council and replaced him with former rebel leader Malik Agar.

Sudanese media reported on Wednesday that Agar, who has no previous diplomatic or foreign negotiation experience, visited Ethiopia, where he met with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to try to learn more about the situation in Addis Ababa. Did.

Addis Ababa, which hosts the headquarters of the African Union, could play a crucial role in Sudan mediation efforts.

Two months before the outbreak of war, Burhan showed signs of concern over relations with the rebels in Addis Ababa. He sought closer ties with Ethiopia by pushing for “full agreement” on the issue of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam after supporting Cairo in the dam conflict.

Agar made other visits to South Sudan, Uganda and Kenya.

Sources say that through his visits Agar seeks to reactivate the role of the IGAD-mandated leaders of South Sudan, Djibouti and Kenya as mediators of the Sudan conflict.

Agar has nevertheless criticized the East African bloc’s efforts to find a comprehensive solution to Sudan’s problems.

“I don’t want to talk about the Sudan problem because the problem is war, and it must be stopped with mechanisms and programs. It is needed now and trying to skip steps.’

Moussa Faki Mahamat, chairman of the African Union Commission, however, has defended the initiative, saying that it is “inclusive” to return Sudan to civilian rule, rebuild public services, meet the population’s urgent needs, and prepare the country for a democratic transition. Communication is important.” free and fair elections.

The Agar visits to member states of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) come on the heels of an earlier visit to the region by Yusuf Ezzat, political advisor to the RSF commander, and seem aimed at countering Daglo’s outreach efforts, which have had worked on building stronger ties with neighboring countries since the fall of Omar Hassan al-Bashir’s regime.

Sudanese experts said that Malik Agar’s visit would not change much in the regional equation and that he has limited ambitions to avoid a lack of sympathy for Burhan, due to which Burhan could be considered an outcast in the region. The head of the Sudanese Sovereignty Council is wary of the risk of supporting Sudan’s neighbors, especially Ethiopia, the commander of the Rapid Support Force.

In Juba, Agar met with President Salwa Kiir Mayardit of South Sudan, who also heads the IGAD mediation team.

Agar briefed Kiir on the security situation in Sudan and the outcome of his visit to Kenya and Uganda. They also called for harmonizing the initiatives of Jeddah, the African Union and the IGAD to prevent war.

“President Salwa Kiir Mayardit reiterated his commitment to the restoration of peace and stability in Sudan,” said a statement in Juba.

He reaffirmed support for President Kiir’s mediation, noting that Juba remains an ideal location for peace talks.

Agar was quoted as saying, “It is our duty to stop the war in Sudan and reach a logical solution through dialogue.”

Speaking to the media after the meeting, Agar called the conflict raging in Sudan “a stupid war”.

His remarks questioned Burhan’s complete adherence to military strategy and his willingness to defend the ongoing battle.

Salah al-Din al-Douma, a professor of political science at the University of Khartoum, said that Agar’s regional tour “does not lay out specific and clear ideas for preventing war and settling the conflict, and Agar’s tour only shows the type”. ” Manipulation by the Muslim Brotherhood, which seeks to end the war.

In Jeddah, a mediation source said Sudan talks were ongoing in an effort to ensure safe passage for humanitarian aid.

Saudi Arabia and the US mediated a ceasefire that ended on Saturday.

Consultations for a new ceasefire deal, Saudi TV station Al Arabiya reported on Tuesday, were at an early stage and complicated by continuing fighting.

Fighting has intensified since it formally ended on June 3 following repeated violations of a 12-day ceasefire between the army and the RSF in the three cities that make up Sudan’s Greater Capital Region, Khartoum, Bahri and Omdurman .

Witnesses said a massive fire broke out on Wednesday near a military compound containing an arms factory in southern Khartoum, which Sudan’s army struggled to defend in some of the fiercest weeks of fighting in its conflict with the RSF.

According to International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates, more than 1.4 million people have been displaced within Sudan and 476,800 have fled to neighboring countries, most of whom are already struggling with poverty and internal conflict.

Sudan’s Ministry of Health has recorded at least 780 civilian deaths in Khartoum as a direct result of the fighting. Hundreds more have been killed in the town of El Jinina in West Darfur. Medical officials say many bodies have not been collected or registered.

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