By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Sudan’s government has condemned the action of Uganda, which played host to the leader of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, calling the meeting an “affront to humanity”.
Sudan’s foreign ministry, aligned with the nation’s armed forces, said Uganda had flouted international law by welcoming RSF commander, Dagalo, whose fighters are accused of committing widespread atrocities throughout the continuing civil war.
On Friday, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said he met with Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, at his presidential home in the city of Entebbe.
Museveni, appointed by the African Union to mediate between Sudan’s military and the RSF, said he emphasised “a peaceful political solution”.
In a statement on Sunday, Sudan’s foreign ministry said: “The Sudanese government condemns in the strongest terms the Ugandan government’s reception… of rebel leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, commander of the terrorist militia.”
The statement denounced the meeting between Degalo and Uganda’s President and said it was “an unprecedented move that is an affront to humanity as a whole, before it is an affront to the Sudanese people”.
Sudan said it understood Uganda had the right to welcome whomever to its country, but said Uganda has flouted international law by hosting Dagalo.
President Museveni summarised his meeting with Dagalo in a previous statement, saying: “As always, I emphasised that dialogue and a peaceful political solution are the only sustainable paths to stability for Sudan and the region.”
Sudan has faced nearly three‑year power struggle between the regular army and the RSF. The civil war has killed hundreds of thousands of people, forced more than 13 million people from their homes and sparked widespread famine.
Last year, Sudan suspended all imports from Kenya after the RSF held meetings in Kenya’s capital city, Nairobi.
Both the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces have been accused of atrocities.
Earlier this week, the United Nations said evidence of horrors committed during the RSF’s siege of the city of el-Fasher point to genocide.
