The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) quartet proposal to establish a standby army in the nation for the security of civilians was rejected by the government of Sudan.
South Sudan, Ethiopia, and Djibouti are all members of the Kenyan-led quartet, which convened in Addis Abeba on Monday to negotiate a peace plan for the three-month-old conflict in Sudan.
Although they initially accepted the invitation to the meeting, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) decided not to go.
The meeting’s discussions focused on Sudan-related concerns in its absence.
Protection of people from the SAF and its adversary, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), was one of the main topics of concern.
The quartet agreed that an army was required to ringfence civilian neighbourhoods in order to enable greater humanitarian aid to reach war-torn areas.
However, the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated in an Arabic-language statement on Tuesday that it did not want any foreign forces present in the nation.
“The government of Sudan affirms its refusal to engage foreign forces in the country,” it said in the statement.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, more than 2.8 million people have been displaced by the war, including more than 2.2 million who are still inside the nation, and approximately 615 000 have crossed the border into neighboring countries.
