Principal Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Korir Sing'oei, responded to reports claiming that Sudan was opposed to President William Ruto leading mediation talks seeking to restore peace and tranquillity in the warring nation.
In a statement on Thursday, June 15, the PS noted that no official communication was issued concerning the changes in leadership.
Sing'oei argued that the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Summit was the only authority that could revoke the appointment.
“No official communication on this yet. But both the inclusion of the Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Abiy Ahmed to the Troika mandated to seek peace in Sudan and the appointment of President William Ruto to lead the Quartet was arrived at by the IGAD Summit and can only be vacated by the Summit,” the statement read in part.
However, according to a report by Sudans Post, an independent South Sudanese online newspaper, the foreign minister of Sudan issued a statement on Tuesday, June 13, disagreeing with the appointment.
The report stated that the ministry did not approve the appointment arguing that the decisions were not discussed beforehand.
Additionally, the ministry asked the IGAD secretariat to revoke Ruto's appointment and retain South Sudan's President Salva Kiir instead.
“Sudan expressed its disagreement and objection to a number of paragraphs that were mentioned in the draft final statement of the summit due to the fact that they were not discussed and agreed upon, and the delegation called on the IGAD Secretariat to delete them.
“These paragraphs relate to changing the presidency of the IGAD Committee, as the delegation demanded that the chairman be retained as Salva Kiir Mayardit to chair the committee and demanded the deletion of any reference to the subject of mediation,” the statement from the ministry, according to the report, read in part.
President William Ruto welcomed his appointment on June 13, during the summit, noting that he would meet the warring Sudan generals as a first step to stopping the war.
"Within the next ten days, we will meet face to face with General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (paramilitary) and Abdel Fattah al-Burhan (the army) to speak directly to them on behalf of IGAD to end the war in Sudan.
"We will ask them to halt all hostilities and obtain a commitment to end the war in Sudan," Ruto, appointed to the role 24 hours after a ceasefire brokered by the United States and Saudi Arabia ended, assured.
