Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi announced on Tuesday, April 8, that Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) did not form a parallel government in Nairobi.
While speaking during the Quarterly Diplomatic Briefing, Mudavadi asserted that the charter signed by the RSF at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) was unrelated to forming any parallel government on Kenyan soil.
“On matters of Sudan, there was a conference that took place here in Nairobi. For the avoidance of doubt, no government of Sudan was declared or formed in Nairobi. I want that to be understood very clearly,” the PCS stated.
In what is a contrasting revelation by the government, Mudavadi termed the discourse surrounding the move by the RSF as “misinformation,” noting that the terminology of self-determination as enshrined in the charter should not be misconstrued to mean Kenya is facilitating anything of the opposite nature.
In the political context, self-determination means the right of a people or nation to determine their political status and pursue their economic, social, and cultural development. It could also mean the act of formally withdrawing from a political state or union to form an independent state.
Mudavadi averred that contrary to what was reported, the government’s stand on the war in Sudan was one that supported peace and mediation, and Kenya’s hosting of the RSF was in line with the government’s peace commitment.
“We stand for a peaceful, unified, and one Sudan. Our issue as a country is that we believe in mediation, and there will be different countries from time to time that will have challenges. Kenya will not shy away from offering an opportunity for peaceful conversations, as we have done in the past,” he posited.
“We shall continue to encourage peaceful conversation, but we shall not form governments in exile in Nairobi for other countries. Those must be determined by the people themselves,” he further added.
Mudavadi’s assertions come hot on the heels of former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua's claim that President William Ruto is in a commercial relationship with RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, alias "Hemedti."
While speaking during a TV interview on Monday night, Gachagua alleged that Ruto entered into a gold deal with Hemedti in 2023, further adding that Ruto was the real commander of the RSF.
Even so, the charter, signed on Saturday, February 22, paved the way for the RSF to govern rebel-held areas, advocating for a secular state and a unified national army.
The signing of the charter was confirmed by signatories Al-Hadi Idris and Ibrahim Al-Mirghani, who disclosed the development to Reuters.
The signing ceremony was attended by Abdelaziz al-Hilu, a powerful rebel leader who controls vast swathes of territory and troops in South Kordofan state and who has long demanded that Sudan embrace secularism.
According to the text of the charter, the signatories agreed that Sudan should be a "secular, democratic, non-centralised state" with a unified national army, though it also upheld the right of armed groups to continue existing.
Further, the charter stated that the government did not exist to split the country but rather to unify it and to end the war, tasks it said the army-aligned government operating out of Port Sudan had failed to do.
The move by the State to host the RSF still brought criticism and backlash with other nations and even Sudan faulting the move.
