Sudan voices objection to meeting of IGAD quartet committee's foreign ministers

KHARTOUM, June 19 (Xinhua)

Sudanese government on Monday voiced objection to a meeting for foreign ministers of a quartet committee of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) to discuss the current crisis in the country.

At the 14th ordinary session of the IGAD Assembly of Heads of State and Government, which was held in Djibouti on June 12, an initiative including a roadmap for the resolution of the Sudan conflict was adopted.

The roadmap included the establishment of a quartet committee, to be chaired by Kenya, to follow up on the Sudanese issue, the arrangement of face-to-face meetings between Sudan's two warring factions, and the initiation of an inclusive process toward a political settlement of the Sudan conflict within three weeks.

The quartet committee includes Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti and South Sudan.

 In a statement released on Monday, Sudan's Foreign Ministry expressed "Sudanese government's objection to convocation of this meeting."

"Sudan is not concerned with the outcome of the meeting, because it is still waiting for a response from the IGAD regarding Sudan's objection to Kenya's chairmanship of the quartet committee," the statement said.

The statement further stressed Sudan's categorical rejection of the Kenyan government's description of the conflict in Sudan as a "fighting between two generals."

 "The way in which the Kenyan government deals with the mediation file contradicts with the basic principles of the IGAD, represented in respecting the sovereignty of states," the ministry said.

According to the Sudanese Foreign Ministry's statement, the Kenya Foreign Minister had invited the other foreign ministers of the quartet committee for a meeting on Monday.

Sudan has been witnessing deadly armed clashes between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Khartoum and other areas since April 15.