General Yasser Al-Atta. (Courtesy).

The Assistant Commander-in-chief of the Sudan Armed Forces has reportedly dared President William Ruto to bring the Kenyan Defence Forces (KDF) to a fight with his troops, amid growing accusations that Nairobi sympathizes with the paramilitary RSF.

In a video that surfaced online, General Yasser Al-Atta mocked Ruto and told him to deploy his army to Sudan instead of the East African forces.

“The state (Kenya) that supports you (RSF) and the mercenaries like you with money must also bring its army… leave the East African forces and come with your army to intervene and we are waiting for you,” Al-Atta stated.

Al-Atta made the remarks more than a week after an IGAD Quartet meeting resolved to request a summit of the East Africa Standby Forces to consider the possibility of deploying troops in Sudan.

The group led by President William Ruto and deputized by President Salva Kiir said the force will protect civilians and guarantee the safe passage of humanitarian assistance.

However, General Al-Atta has accused the Kenyan leader of funding Rapid Support Forces (RSF) which has been battling the forces for the control of Khartoum since the collapse of the transitional government.

SAF rejected Ruto as the mediator of the ongoing conflict after he was appointed by Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD).

The Sudanese army faction boycotted the first meeting of IGAD Quartet and had previously called for President Salva Kiir to head the mediation team.

General Al-Atta, in his address also protested the presence of an East African force tasked with protecting civilians and aid workers in Khartoum as the war drags on.

He also claims that the army’s ultimate goal was to preserve a united Sudan “free from the Janjaweed menace.”

“Sudan is not a game of every unscrupulous politician, profiteer, and mercenary,” he added, according to a Kenyan newspaper.

The Eastern Africa Standby Force (EASF) is one of the five regional forces for Peace Support Operations (PSOs) in the continent, consisting of military, police, and civilian components.

The force constitutes the regional operational arm of the peacekeeping elements put in place by the 2002 Protocol establishing the Peace and Security Council of the African Union.

As of January 2018, EASF has ten member states including Burundi, South Sudan, Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, and Sudan.