CAIRO (Reuters) – A top Sudanese general violently rejected a Kenyan-led proposal that East African peacekeepers help end a more than 100-day civil war in Sudan, suggesting in a video released on Monday that any such troops would not make it home alive.
The Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces it is fighting have received multiple international mediation offers, but none have succeeded in ending or even significantly pausing the fighting that broke out on April 15.
Earlier this month, IGAD, an East African regional bloc of which Kenya is a member, proposed an initiative that would include the deployment of peacekeepers in the capital Khartoum.
The Sudanese army has repeatedly rejected the Kenyan-led initiative, accusing the regional power of supporting the RSF.
It has said it would consider any foreign peacekeepers as enemy forces.
“Leave the East African forces where they are. Bring the Kenyan army … I swear to god, not one of them would make it back,” said Sudanese General Yassir al-Atta in comments to troops.
He also accused Kenya of being bought off by an unnamed third country.
“This statement is unworthy of our comment,” Kenya’s foreign affairs principal secretary Korir Sing’Oei told Reuters, adding that the accusations were unfounded and that his country was neutral.
“By insisting that durable peace will only be realised through the inclusion of civilian actors in any mediation process and calling on accountability for atrocities, some in Sudan may find these principles difficult to accept,” he added.
(Reporting by Nafisa Eltahir in Cairo and Hereward Holland in Nairobi; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
