Kenya announced on Sunday that it closed its mission in Khartoum, Sudan, following reports that armed groups were now targeting diplomatic officials as infighting continued.
Principal Secretary of Foreign Affairs Korir Sing’oei said Kenya had remained open to facilitate the evacuation of any Kenyans who remained in the war-torn country.
“We continue to receive disturbing news of the targeting of diplomatic officials by armed groups in Khartoum.”
“Kenya Mission in Khartoum which had remained open to facilitate the evacuation of any Kenyans still in the country is now closed,” he said in a tweet.
Kenya had rescued at least 900 people by the beginning of May, as the fighting between Sudan’s generals went on.
Sudan’s conflict has continued for a seventh week where fighting has propelled the nation into an all-out war since fighting between duelling generals from the Sudanese army and its rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) broke out on April 15.
The country has plunged into a humanitarian crisis, with more than 1,800 people killed and at least 1.6 million displaced within the country or across its borders, the United Nations has said, with many fleeing to Egypt, Chad and South Sudan.
On the ground, multiple ceasefires have been violated by both parties and Saudi and United States-brokered peace negotiations have now been suspended.
On Thursday, the US imposed the first sanctions related to the conflict warning it will “hold accountable” all those undermining peace in the country.
The sanctions targeted firms associated with the conflict’s actors, including those controlled by RSF head Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo in the United Arab Emirates and the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, as well as two defence firms linked to the Sudanese Armed Forces, led by Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.
The White House also said it was imposing visa restrictions “against actors who are perpetuating the violence”, but did not identify them.
The sanctions are targeted to affect those companies in a way that would make the warring parties have less ammunition to fight and force them back to the negotiating table.
The United States and Saudi Arabia on Sunday made a renewed push for truce talks between Sudan’s warring generals as deadly fighting has raged into its eighth week.
Envoys of Sudan’s regular army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have remained in the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah despite the earlier collapse of ceasefire talks, the kingdom’s foreign ministry said.
The foreign mediators called for “the parties to agree to and effectively implement a new ceasefire, with the aim of building to a permanent cessation of hostilities”, Riyadh said.
A five-day extension of a US- and Saudi-brokered truce formally expired on Saturday with no signs of the conflict abating and fears that the rival sides were poised for an escalation.
Last week, President William Ruto held talks with Gen Malik Agar Nganyoufa, Vice-President of the Transitional Sovereign Council of Sudan and Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.
Ruto said he committed to pushing for an Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) to speed up the peace process.
He also met with Yousif Izzat, the special envoy of Gen Dagalo, in State House, Nairobi.Ends
