Sudan’s government has denounced Uganda for hosting the leader of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), calling the meeting an “affront to humanity”.
Sudan’s foreign ministry, aligned with the nation’s armed forces, said Uganda had flouted international law by welcoming RSF Commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, whose fighters are accused of committing widespread atrocities throughout the continuing civil war.
On Friday, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said he met with Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, at his presidential home in the city of Entebbe.
Museveni, appointed by the African Union to mediate between Sudan’s military and the RSF, said he emphasised “a peaceful political solution”.
In a statement on Sunday, Sudan’s foreign ministry said: “The Sudanese government condemns in the strongest terms the Ugandan government’s reception… of rebel leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, commander of the terrorist militia.”
The statement denounced the meeting between Degalo and Uganda’s president and said it was “an unprecedented move that is an affront to humanity as a whole, before it is an affront to the Sudanese people”.
Sudan said it understood Uganda had the right to welcome whomever to its country, but said Uganda has flouted international law by hosting Dagalo. Uganda’s government has not responded to these allegations.
President Museveni summarised his meeting with Dagalo in a previous statement, saying: “As always, I emphasised that dialogue and a peaceful political solution are the only sustainable paths to stability for Sudan and the region.”
Sudan remains locked in an almost three‑year power struggle between the regular army and the RSF. The civil war has killed hundreds of thousands of people, forced more than 13 million people from their homes and sparked widespread famine.
Both the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces have been accused of atrocities.
Earlier this week, the United Nations said evidence of horrors committed during the RSF’s siege of the city of el-Fasher point to genocide.
Throughout the war, Sudan’s government has criticised regional states for hosting RSF leaders.
Last year, Sudan suspended all imports from Kenya after the RSF held meetings in Kenya’s capital city, Nairobi.
Kenya insisted it had hosted the meetings in a bid to find a way to end the war, “without any ulterior motives”.
But the conflict shows no signs of waning – on Saturday, the RSF announced it had seized the town of al-Tina in North Darfur, after days of intense fighting.
The RSF shared a video of its fighters celebrating under a sign bearing the town’s name.
Additional reporting by David Bamford
BBC
