The chairman of Sudan's Transitional Sovereign Council Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan. PHOTO | ASHRAF SHAZLY | AFP

Sudan’s Foreign Ministry has rejected the appointment of Kenya’s President William Ruto as the leader IGAD mediation team amid the ongoing conflict but the regional bloc said it will stick to the schedule.

According to Nation Africa, Al-Burhan’s side accuses Nairobi of sympathizing with the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces led by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.

Khartoum is also understood to have rejected an IGAD mediation schedule which proposed a first face-to-face meeting between the two general battling for power.

The repudiated meeting between Al-Burhan and Dagalo was supposed to be arranged by President Ruto.

But, IGAD had insisted it would stick to the mediation quartet led by Kenya in the search for peace in Sudan, even after Khartoum rejected the proposals, in spite of Sudanese protests.

According to officials familiar with the decision, resolutions published in an official IGAD communique remain in force until formally revised by the heads of state and government of the eight-member bloc.

On Monday, June 12, a Sudanese government official told AFP that army chief Alburhan is not ready to meet the enemy general he’s been at war with.

The official whose identity was concealed because he was not authorized to speak to the media, made the remarks at the IGAD Summit aimed at resolving the Sudanese crisis in Djibouti.

– Fighting rages on –

The war in Sudan is nearing its third month and spilling out of control as the United Nations said the conflict has displaced more than 2 million people.

The governor of West Darfur Khamis Abakar has been killed after publicly blaming the deaths of civilians on the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The Sudanese army accused the RSF of “kidnapping and assassinating” the governor, but the paramilitary group denies any involvement in attacks against civilians in Darfur and the governor’s killing.

The group said it condemned Abakar’s “assassination … by outlaws amid the continuing tribal conflict in the state”.