AL JAZIRA STATE: Sudan's army-aligned government suspended ties with the east African bloc IGAD, accusing it of "violating" the country's sovereignty by inviting a rival paramilitary chief to a summit.
Nine months after war broke out between the regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, the army has been losing territory while paramilitary leader Mohamed Hamdan Daglo has been touring African capitals.
In a further boost to his diplomatic standing, IGAD extended an invite to Daglo to a summit in Uganda on Thursday, which he accepted.
Daglo confirmed his attendance in a statement early on Wednesday and called for negotiations "not only between the two sides" but including "national institutions supporting democracy, civil society, religious organisations, youth and all the people".
But the IGAD invitation prompted the foreign ministry, loyal to army chief and Sudan's de facto leader Abdel Fattah al Burhan, to announce it was suspending its relationship with the bloc.
It accused IGAD of "violating Sudan's sovereignty" and setting a "dangerous precedent".
The bloc -- in parallel with the United States and Saudi Arabia -- had repeatedly attempted to mediate between the two warring generals, but to no avail.
The ministry had on Saturday accused the bloc of lending Daglo's "militia" legitimacy by inviting it to a meeting that will be attended by member heads of state and government.
Burhan had recently accused the bloc of bias and seeking to intervene in "an internal matter".
Daglo is fresh off a tour of six African capitals including IGAD members, while analysts say the army chief is growing more and more isolated diplomatically as his troops lose ground to RSF advances.
Meanwhile, the devastating nine-month war is spreading to a UNESCO World Heritage Site, an NGO reported late on Tuesday, sounding the alarm for the remains of the ancient Kingdom of Kush.
The Regional Network for Cultural Rights said it "strongly condemns the incursion by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF)", the paramilitary forces of general Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, "on the sites of Naqa and Musawwarat es-Sufra".
The NGO said the incident, which took place on Sunday, marked the second time since December that fighting had broken out at the religious sites, located in the northern River Nile state.
State authorities also reported "an incursion by the RSF, repulsed by the air force", claiming that "calm has returned" without mentioning whether the sites suffered any damage. — AFP
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