The government accused the East African bloc of “violating” Sudan’s sovereignty by inviting the RSF chief to a summit.
The government of war-ravaged Sudan said it has suspended its membership in the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the East African regional bloc that has been trying to broker talks between the country's warring factions.
Saturday's announcement was made by the Foreign Ministry, which is loyal to Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Sudan's army chief and de facto leader.
The Sudanese army and the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been fighting for nine months in a war that has killed thousands of people and displaced more than seven million.
The government announced this week that it was freezing its ties with IGAD ahead of a meeting of the bloc in Uganda on Thursday after inviting RSF chief Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo. It accused the bloc of “violating Sudan’s sovereignty” and setting a “dangerous precedent.”
In parallel with the USA and Saudi Arabia, IGAD had repeatedly tried unsuccessfully to mediate between the two sides.
Months of war
The war broke out in mid-April over an internationally supported plan to incorporate the RSF into the army and initiate a transition to elections.
The army and the RSF shared power after longtime ruler Omar al-Bashir was toppled during a popular uprising in 2019. Before clashes erupted, they jointly staged a coup in 2021 that scuttled efforts to move Sudan toward democracy.
Throughout the conflict, both sides have been accused of war crimes, including indiscriminate shelling of residential areas, torture and arbitrary detention of civilians.
The RSF is also accused of ethnically motivated mass killings – particularly in Darfur – as well as rampant looting and the use of rape as a weapon of war.
According to a conservative estimate by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, more than 13,000 people were killed in the conflict.
According to the United Nations, an estimated 7.5 million civilians have fled the fighting abroad or to other parts of the country.