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Sudan: RSF leader visits Ethiopia in rare public trip abroad

December 28, 2023

The leader of Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has met with the Ethiopian Prime Minister on the second stop of a rare international mission that also includes Uganda and Kenya.

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Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, Sudan's then paramilitary Rapid Support Forces commander attends a meeting of representatives of the tripartite mechanism in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on June 8, 2022
Daglo has met with government officials in Uganda and Ethiopia and is set to visit Kenya and possibly Djibouti.Image: Ashraf Shazly/AFP

Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, the leader of Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, has arrived in Ethiopia on the second stop of his first trip abroad since war erupted with Sudan's army in April.

His visit to Ethiopia is part of a rare overseas mission which has already taken him to Uganda, where he met President Yoweri Museveni.

Daglo said he put forward a vision to engage in negotiations, cease hostilities, and rebuild the Sudanese state based on what he described as "new, just foundations."

The RSF leader is also expected to visit Kenya in the coming days.

'Securing peace and security'

Daglo met in Addis Ababa with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who said the pair discussed "securing peace and stability" in Sudan.

In a statement on social media, Daglo said they "discussed the need to bring a swift end to this war, the historical crisis in Sudan, and how to best alleviate the hardships of the Sudanese people."

The visits come as regional diplomats scramble to broker a meeting between the RSF commander and his rival, Sudanese army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.

The warring generals are believed to have not met face-to-face since the outbreak of fighting between their forces that has killed over 12,000 people by some conservative estimates, and forced millions to flee.

Djibouti meeting postponed until January

IGAD, a bloc representing eight countries in the wider East Africa region, has been trying to bring al-Burhan and Daglo together since the war erupted.

Djibouti, an IGAD founding member, said a meeting between the rivals planned for December 28 had been "postponed to early January 2024 for technical reasons."

The UN Security Council last week voiced alarm at the growing violence in Sudan and the spread of fighting to areas previously considered a haven for those displaced by the conflict.

The UN says the war has internally displaced more than seven million people, while another 1.5 million having fled to neighboring countries.

Both sides have been accused of war crimes.

mds/lo (AFP, Reuters)