By Brian Okoth
Kenya has said it is “unable” to verify the authenticity of a video footage in which a high-ranking officer of the Sudanese Transitional Sovereignty Council was recorded accusing President William Ruto of meddling in Sudan’s affairs.
An undated video clip of Lieutenant General Yasser Al-Atta, who is the Assistant Commander-in-Chief of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), reportedly accused the Kenyan leader of plotting to “bring the Eastern Africa Standby Force (EASF) to Sudan” in efforts to contain the war that has entered its fourth month.
“We are asking the Kenyan president to leave EASF out of Sudan’s affairs. If he is deeply invested in our affairs, we are daring him to deploy his country’s military to fight in Sudan,” Al-Atta reportedly said.
The Sudanese senior military officer said he was confident that they would defeat their Kenyan counterparts in a combat, should it take place.
“Our path to victory is very straight,” said Al-Atta.
The Sudan Tribune reports that the SAF’s senior officer spoke in Omdurman, Khartoum on Sunday.
Context
Kenya now says it won’t file a formal response to Al-Atta unless it “understands fully the context of the video.”
“First, we cannot verify the authenticity of the video – whether the senior military officer actually made those remarks. We also need a formal translation to understand what he said; we do not want to rely on social media interpretations of the message to file a response,” Kenya’s Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Alfred Mutua told TRT Afrika on phone on Monday.
“And we are also seeking to have the full context of his reported remarks; what he said before and after what was recorded in the viral video,” Mutua said.
On several occasions, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) have accused Kenya of partiality in the Sudanese conflict, with SAF leadership alleging that Ruto supports the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which is led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
SAF rejects Kenya’s chairmanship
In June, Sudan’s transitional president, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, who is the commander of the country’s armed forces, rejected Ruto's leadership of the quartet of Sudan’s neighbours mediating the war.
Kenya, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Somalia are the neighbouring nations seeking to find a long-lasting solution to the Sudanese conflict.
"The Government of the Republic of Sudan announces its rejection of Kenya's chairmanship of the IGAD Committee concerned with addressing the current crisis in Sudan, given that the Kenyan government and its senior officials have adopted RSF positions, sheltered its elements and provided them with various types of support," Sudan said on June 16.
Kenya, however, maintains it is impartial in the ongoing conflict, and that it is only interested in a return of peace in Sudan.
‘Janjaweed militia’
SAF says parts of the country seriously affected by the ongoing war, and are occupied by RSF fighters, are “under the control of Janjaweed militia.”
The Janjaweed are a Sudanese militia group that operates in Sudan, particularly in Darfur, and eastern Chad.
“We are soldiers, and as soldiers we do not entertain the idea of ruling the country. It is up to the country’s political class to agree among themselves on how they want to run the nation. We are, however, telling the political class that we will not allow our country’s politics to be taken over by corrupt politicians. Sudan will not collapse,” said Al-Atta.
The war in Sudan broke out on April 15, 2023 after the leaderships of SAF and RSF fell out as the country prepared for a return to civilian democracy.
Either side was claiming control of the mineral resources-rich nation.
