Sudan: FM Rejects AU Meeting With Rebel RSF Militia Representive

Julian Civiero / WFP
The Adre refugee camp in Chad (file photo).
5 September 2023
Sudan News Agency (Khartoum)

Port Sudan — In a press Release it issued Sunday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the meeting of the Chairperson of the African Union Commissions Mr. Mousa Faki Mohamed in Addis Ababa, in the presence of his Chief of Staff, Mohamed El-Hassan Wad El-Labbad, with a representative of the rebel Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia, who describes himself as the political advisor to the rebel militia leader.

Sudan News Agency (SUNA) publishes Hereunder the text of the press release:

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Office of the Spokesperson and Media Department

press release

According to media reports, Mr. Mousa Faki Mohamed, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, met yesterday in Addis Ababa, in the presence of his Chief of Staff, Mohamed El-Hassan Wad El-Labbad, with a representative of the rebel Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia, who describes himself as the political advisor to the rebel militia leader.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expresses its rejection and condemnation of this meeting, which represents a dangerous precedent in the work of the African Union and a clear violation of the ethos and norms of the continental organization, and all international organizations, as groupings of sovereign states, in which there is no place for rebel movements and criminal terrorist militias.

The reception by the AU Chairperson of a representative of an insurgent militia is tantamount to granting armed opposition movements and militias a legitimacy they don't deserve, noting that there is a large number of such movements in the AU member states. This act constitutes a direct threat to the sovereignty of the Member States and the security and stability of the continent as a whole.

The government of the Sudan has conveyed to the African Union Commission on May 24, 2023 that the commander of the rebel Rapid Support Forces had lost his constitutional position after leading an insurgency against the state and requested that the Commission should not deal with him or with anyone that represents him.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is, therefore, surprised by the admanent insistence of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission on continuing to deal with a rebel militia that perpetrates the worst terrorist crimes and the most heinous atrocities against civilians, women and children.

The Embassy of the Sudan in Addis Ababa has requested a meeting with the AU Commission Chairperson to protest against this step and find out its incomprehensible and unjustified motives and reasons.

Khartoum

Tuesday, 4 September, 2023

Read the original article on SNA.

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