Sudan blocks Kenyan goods as AU rejects ‘parallel’ government bid
Sudanese RSF deputy leader Abdul Rahim Hamdan Dagalo (right) and Sudan People's Liberation Movement North leader Abdelaziz Al-Hilu (centre) in Nairobi, Kenya on February 18, 2025.
Sudan says it will block entry of all Kenyan goods in the latest protest against Nairobi’s dalliance with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the paramilitary group that has been fighting the army since April 2023.
The decision was rendered in a decree issued by Omar Ahmed Mohamed Ali, the acting minister for Trade and Finance of Sudan, halting all imports from Kenya through all ports, border crossings, airports and entry points.
It came after the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council, for the first time, pronounced itself against the idea of forming a parallel government as declared by the RSF recently.
Sudan said the decision was made to safeguard Sudan’s “supreme interests and strengthen national security” citing Kenya’s alleged hosting of militia leaders and their allies, as well as its support for their meetings and activities—an apparent reference to armed groups opposing the Sudanese government.
The Sudanese market depends on Kenyan products such as tea, coffee, food items, and some industrial goods. In good times, Sudan bought about $37 million of Kenyan tea although that figure dropped in wartime to $18 million in 2024. The move could lead to price increases for certain goods in Sudan, even as Kenyan direct exports to Sudan may be affected.
However, Sudan could yet use Kenyan tea via Egypt or Gulf countries, two regions that also buy most of the Kenyan tea via the Mombasa Tea Auction, before blending and reselling. Sudan’s porous borders may also mean the goods barred from entry may yet find a way into Sudan.
However, Sudan was using trade only as the latest tool in the box, having lobbied the international community to help condemn RSF moves.
This week, the 15-member African Union Peace and Security Council, which had taken weeks to comment on the issue, finally agreed on a statement on March 11, warning that any attempts to back a parallel administration could break up Sudan.
The Council issued a press statement in which it rejected and condemned the recent announcement of parallel government by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and its affiliated political and social forces in Nairobi.
The RSF has been fighting the Sudanese military government since April 2023, resulting in more than 30,000 deaths and 12 million displaced people.
Sudan itself is suspended from the AU activities, but the AU top organ in charge of peace and security decisions said it still wants to treat Khartoum using the norms of the AU.
“The Council does not recognise the purported parallel government or entity in the Republic of Sudan,” said the press release after the Council’s 1264th meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Rebel movement
The Council called on all AU member states and the international community not to recognise any parallel government or entity seeking to partition and govern any part of the territory of the Republic of Sudan or its institutions.
It called on all member states and the international community to refrain from recognising and/or providing support to any armed or political group toward the establishment of a parallel government or state entity in the Republic of Sudan.
The RSF and some 18 other allied movements, three weeks ago, signed a charter establishing a government of ‘Peace and Unity' in Nairobi, a development that has put the Kenyan government under international radar for allowing a rebel movement to establish a parallel government in its soil.
Initially, the Kenya government said that Kenya's actions were in line with its broader role in peace negotiations and its commitment to supporting Sudan in finding a resolution to its ongoing political crisis.
Kenyan Prime Cabinet Secretary, also the Foreign Affairs and Diaspora Cabinet Secretary, Musalia Mudavadi had maintained that it was following through its tradition of facilitating peace agreements in the region, including the 2004 Somalia peace process and the Sudanese Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed in Nairobi in 2005.
However, the Kenya government has since gone slow on its support for the parallel government, especially after President William Ruto faced a series of criticisms due to his closeness with the RSF leader Muhamed Hamdan Dagalo ‘Hemedti.’.
The African Union said that it is committed to the preservation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Sudan, while pursuing peaceful resolution of the conflict that began in April 2023, and which has created the world’s largest humanitarian crisis causing the displacement of over 12 million Sudanese civilians.
“[The] Council reaffirmed the AU unwavering commitment to continue to collaborate with all Sudanese stakeholders towards finding viable and durable solutions towards silencing the guns permanently in Sudan, based on the AU Roadmap for the Resolution of the Conflict in Sudan, which was adopted by the PSC at the Heads of State and Government level on 27th May 2023,” says the press released.
Sudan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomed the council’s position, saying that it reflects the principles of Pan-Africanism and respects both the AU Constitutive Act and the UN Charter on the preservation of state sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity, and the rejection of interference in the internal affairs of states.
“Sudan renews its appreciation for these clear positions that are consistent with international law, which constitute strong support to the Sudanese people and their national institutions in defending their sovereignty, unity, dignity, and independence,” the ministry said in its consequent press release.
