The transitional President of Chad, Mahamat Idriss Déby, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria and other African leaders to intervene in the ongoing crisis in Sudan.
This comes as a violent power struggle between Sudan’s army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group, has claimed the lives of nearly 100 people – almost double the casualties from Sunday.
Tensions escalated over the weekend following heavy gunfire and explosions in Khartoum, Sudan’s capital. The RSF accused the army of ambushing its forces with heavy weaponry and attacks. The army denied the allegations and instead claimed that the RSF was attempting to seize the military headquarters.
In response to the situation, RSF leader Mohamed Dagalo vowed to keep fighting until all army bases were captured. Sudan’s military head, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, has also ruled out negotiations “until the dissolution of the paramilitary RSF.”
In a statement on Monday by Buhari’s spokesperson, Garba Shehu, the Chadian leader urged Buhari and other African leaders to intervene, stating that the conflict must be contained as it will have severe consequences on neighboring countries if it is not.
Déby has also confirmed that Chad has closed its borders to Sudan and reinforced security in response to the crisis.
“I have spoken to the leaders of both factions. If everyone tries, it will calm down the situation,” he said.
“African leaders, especially the elders (President Buhari), Macky Sall (Senegal), and AU chairperson Azali Assoumani (Comoros) need to step in. For two days, they have been killing themselves.”
President Buhari commended Déby’s efforts to bring an end to the crisis, describing the conflict in Sudan as unfortunate.
Buhari further stated that relentless efforts from neighboring countries and the international community to prevail on the warring sides to stop fighting and negotiate would bring the desired calm that Sudan desperately needs after all it has gone through in the past.
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