President Salva Kiir. (Office of the President).

President Salva Kiir says his IGAD-assigned team is waiting for a green light to travel to Khartoum to mediate parties to the conflict in Sudan.

“Until now there is no green light from Khartoum that the war has stopped, and you come as the IGAD committee,” President Kiir said while addressing Muslims during the Ramadam break-fast known as Iftar on Thursday in Juba, 

Last Sunday, the IGAD Heads of State delegated President Salva Kiir, Kenyan President William Ruto, and Djiboutian President Ismail Omar Guelleh to travel to Khartoum to mediate dialogue among the Sudanese parties.

President Kiir was selected as the team leader of the delegation to Sudan

Kiir said he will travel to Khartoum once the fighting subsided.

“We are now waiting for the green light from Khartoum to tell us that there is no sound of a gunshot in Khartoum and any plane can land at Khartoum International Airport,

“If they say come now, I am ready to go,” he said.

But the fighting is still ongoing despite the announcement of a 72-hour truce by the United Nations for the parties to ceasefire during the Eid al-Fitr holiday.

Kiir reiterated that he had spoken with both General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Commander of the Sudanese Armed Forces, and General Muhammad Hamdan Dagalo, to cease hostilities and allow humanitarian corridors for the civilians to access basic services and to pave way for negotiations.

President Kiir says if the shooting stops and Khartoum International Airport reopens, he will travel with his counterparts from the region to mediate the Sudanese conflict.

Clashes between the Sudanese warring parties have continued, with more than 300 people killed and more than 2,000 injured.

According to the United Nations, thousands of civilians have fled their homes in desperate need of humanitarian assistance.