THE REPUBLIC OF THE SUDAN

MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

DEPARTMENT OF MEDIA AND SPOKESPERSON

Press Release

With reference to the statement issued by the IGAD Secretariat on December 10, 2023, as the Final Communique of the 41st Extraordinary Assembly of IGAD Heads of State and Government, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would like to clarify the following:
1.The Summit of IGAD Heads of State and Government was held on Saturday, December 9th 2023, in Djibouti, for one day. There had been an open session, followed by a closed consultations session for the Heads of delegation only. Due to time constraints, the IGAD Secretariat was unable to prepare a draft final Communique until late last night. The IGAD Presidency, therefore, had to end the Assembly, before the draft final communique being submitted and discussed, announcing that the same would be sent later on the same night to member states for approval, so that the Final Communique would be issued following day, Sunday, December 10th 2023. It wasn’t until Sunday morning we received the draft Communique, however.
2.Immediately after receiving the draft Communique, Sudan officially informed the IGAD Secretariat that it has substantive observations and reservations about the content of the draft as the there were points that had been unduly inserted into the draft, beside the flawed wording of what was agreed upon regarding some important issues, to the extent that it did not accurately reflect what had been reached. These observations and reservations were communicated promptly to the IGAD Secretariat.
3.In a clear deviation from IGAD Rules of Procedure that dictate decisions and resolutions are made by consensus, the Secretariat hastily posted a Final Communique without rectifying the flawed contents of the draft. Sudan, therefore opines that this statement is not an accurate reflection of
the outcome of the deliberations during the Summit, and that the country
is not bound by it until the IGAD’s Presidency and Secretariat do the necessary correction.
4.As has been communicated to the IGAD Secretariat, the draft final communique sent to Member States erred, and must be rectified in the following points:
a.The reference to the participation of the Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the United Arab Emirates in the summit, as that did not happen.
b.Stating that the IGAD Heads of State and Government held consultations with a delegation of the dissolved RSF. This contradicts the truth, as the President of the Transitional Sovereignty Council, one of the IGAD Heads of State and Government, did not participate in or hear about such consultations. It is a known fact, however, that members of the rebel militia arrived on the plane of the Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the UAE.
c.The inaccuracy of stating that the President of the Transitional Sovereignty Council agreed to meet with the leader of the rebellion. As Mr. The President has stipulated clearly that for such a meeting to take place, it must be preceded by observing a permanent ceasefire, the withdrawal of the rebel forces from the Capital City and their subsequent assembly in agreed on sites outside Khartoum.
d.The reference to telephone conversation between the IGAD Heads of State and Government and the rebel leader. If there was such a call it would have taken place between the Kenyan president and the rebel leader after the end of the summit and as such it is not part of the summit official activities to merit mentioning in the final Communique. Moreover, IGAD is an intergovernmental organization and recognizes only Government representatives.
e.The paragraph on condemning foreign interventions in the Sudan crisis needs to be amended so that it does not equate the Sudanese Armed Forces with the rebels.
f.Overlooking the role of the Arab Republic of Egypt in putting forward the “Sudan Neighboring Countries Initiative” when mentioning the current initiatives to resolve the crisis in Sudan
g.Failure to stipulate the need for consulting with and seeking approval of the Government of Sudan in any effort to resolve the crisis.
5.Since none of these observations were taken into account, the Communique lacks the required consensus and is therefore not a legal binding IGAD document.