UNITED NATIONS, April 26. /TASS/. Many external actors have attempted to artificially precipitate a solution to the question of control over the armed forces in Sudan, Russian Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Anna Yevstigneyeva has said.
"We must state that the current Sudanese crisis was largely caused by an external interference in Sudanese sovereign affairs, attempts at forced political engineering in the country and imposing democratic recipes on it," she told a UN Security Council briefing on the situation in Sudan.
In her words "security sector reform in the country was among the most complicated issues that required elevated attention and a thorough negotiations process."
"At the same time, we saw that many external actors tried to enforce the transfer of authority to civil powers artificially, and imposed a number of decisions that were not supported among broader population. Some states widely promoted the political framework of 5 December 2022, but it failed to become an inclusive platform for various Sudanese forces," the Russian diplomat continued.
According to her, "this format left behind some of Sudan’s political heavyweights." "Such an approach could hardly help to promote a comprehensive settlement," Yevstigneyeva added.
The situation in Sudan escalated amid disagreements between the army chief, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who also heads the ruling Sovereignty Council, and the head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (known as Hemedti), who is al-Burhan’s deputy on the council.
The main points of contention between the two military organizations are related to the timeline and methods of forming a unified armed forces of Sudan, as well as who should become the commander-in-chief of the army: a career military officer, which is the option supported by al-Burhan, or an elected civilian president, as Dagalo insists.
On April 15, clashes between the two structures erupted near a military base in Merowe and in the capital, Khartoum and continued on Tuesday despite an earlier ceasefire. According to the country’s health ministry, more than 600 people have been killed in the country since the conflict broke out. In turn, the World Health Organization reported that the conflict had claimed about 450 lives, over 4,000 people were injured.