Kenya says Russian and Gulf countries’ involvement in Sudan’s politics is hurting the search for peace, raising concerns that only the African Union (AU) had expressed in vague terms last week.
Speaking at a press availability in the US with his host Antony Blinken, Kenya’s Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Alfred Mutua indicated that external interference had made it difficult to reach lasting peace in Sudan, expressing the same sentiments as those of the AU last week. But the Kenyan top diplomat fingered Russia and some Gulf countries of taking sides as the continent pursues a return-to-civilian rule in Sudan.
Dr Mutua is in the US to discuss the US-Kenya Strategic Partnership, a deal meant to guide how future trade and economic relations with the US will run, including adhering to conservation and climate change demands.
But Sudan, where security factions have been fighting for the last nine days, became an immediate talking point.
‘More bullets coming’
“It is quite tragic that we have more bullets coming into Sudan or being used in Sudan than food. And it’s a tragedy, because we see from where we sit a lot of international interference, a lot of other players trying to use Sudan as a playing field for whatever reason, for the gold in Sudan, for territorial strength and control of the region,” Mutua said at a joint briefing with Secretary of State Blinken.