The African Union (AU) Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, Ambassador Bankole Adeoye, on Wednesday called on the belligerents in Sudan to cease fighting, while expressing the refusal of the AU foreign interference in the conflict.
Bankole Adeoye stressed that “no soldier will stop this crisis” in Sudan calling on the generals (Mohamed Hamdan Daglo known as “Hemetti” and Abdel Fattah al-Burhane), to stop fighting, during an online press conference attended by MoroccoLatestNews.
“Let me take this opportunity to re-emphasize that the African Union continues to emphasize the guiding principles that no military victory will stop this crisis,” he said.
The Nigerian ambassador also affirmed that only a “negotiated” political solution, between the Sudanese political parties, will be able to resolve the crisis in the country which has been living since April 15, violent clashes between elements of the army. Sudanese and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), causing many civilian deaths and injuries.
Bankole Adeoye insisted on renewing the call for a “permanent ceasefire in the supreme interest of the good Sudanese people”, stressing “the Herculean task” for the African Union to ensure that it works and that he be watched, just as he insisted on the resumption of political dialogue.
The African Commissioner strongly expressed his position and that of the African Union against any foreign interference or the “internationalization” of the conflict. “We will not tolerate a proxy war,” he insisted.
He said that on the contrary, Sudan needs the international community to “speak and act with one voice”, renewing the call for a political process including all Sudanese parties which “will help solve this crisis rather than any foreign interference”.
Expressing full solidarity and support to the Sudanese people from the African Union, the Commissioner finally admitted that the Sudanese must face “crisis upon crisis”, recalling the already deteriorated economic situation of the country before the crisis caused by the two main generals at the head of the Sudanese armies and the “enormous damage caused to the critical infrastructures” of the country.
The AU Commissioner was speaking within the framework of the prerogatives of the AU, mandated during a meeting at the United Nations on April 12, to coordinate international actors on Sudan with the objective of urgently ending violence and destabilization of the country.