The African Union’s top security body has urged member states not to support a controversial parallel government proposed by Sudanese rebels, warning that it poses a serious risk of partitioning the country.
The 15-member AU Peace and Security Council (PSC), which had taken weeks to state its position on the issue, finally agreed on a statement on March 11 warning that any attempt to back a parallel administration could lead to the break-up of Sudan.
The council issued a press statement rejecting and condemning the recent announcement of a parallel government by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and its affiliates 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 African Union activities, but the AU security organ said it would treat Khartoum according the African Union norms.
“[The] council does not recognise the purported parallel government or entity in the Republic of Sudan,” read the statement released after the PSC’s 1264th meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The council called on all AU member states and the international community to refrain from recognising and/or providing support to any armed or political group seeking to partition and govern any part of Sudan or its institutions.
The RSF and some 18 other allied movements signed a charter in Nairobi three weeks ago establishing a government of ‘peace and unity’, a development that has put the Kenyan government under international scrutiny for allowing a rebel movement to set up a parallel government on its soil.
Initially, Nairobi said its actions were in line with its wider role in peace negotiations and its commitment to helping Sudan find a solution to its ongoing political crisis.
Kenya’s Prime Cabinet Secretary, who is also the Foreign Affairs and Diaspora minister, Musalia Mudavadi had claimed that it was following its tradition of facilitating peace agreements in the region, including the Somali peace process of 2004 and the Sudanese Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed in Nairobi in 2005.
However, the Kenyan government has since slowed its support for the parallel government, especially after President William Ruto faced a series of criticisms for his closeness to RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo ‘Hemedti’.
The African Union said it was committed to the preserving Sudan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, while pursuing a peaceful resolution to the conflict, which has caused the world’s largest humanitarian crisis and displaced more than 12 million Sudanese civilians.
“[The] council reaffirmed the AU’s 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,” the statement read.
Sudan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomed the council’s position, saying 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 subsequent press release.
