(Sudan Tribune) KHARTOUM — Sudanese and Kenyan foreign ministers are expected in Asmara within two days for talks with the Eritrean president in abide to convince him to return to the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD).
Increasingly disillusioned with the eastern African organisation, Eritrea suspended its IGAD membership in April 2007 in protest to member states refusal to condemn and take actions against Ethiopia for sending troops to Somalia.
Asmara also was opposed to IGAD endorsement of a plan to allow foreign peacekeepers into war-torn Somalia to bring stability there.
Deng Alor and his Kenyan counterpart Moses Wetang’ula will fly on Thursday to discuss with President Isaias Afewerki ways to rejoin the regional body as it was decided in a summit of the IGAD head of states last June in Addis Ababa.
The Eritrean president had accepted to discuss the issue with the delegation, Khartoum announced today. The Sudanese ambassador in Asmara, Salah Mohamed el-Hassan today said this move is aimed to convince Eritrea to lift the suspension of its membership and participate in the next IGAD summit n in Sudan.
Eritrea was one of seven member countries of IGAD, a group created in 1996 from an earlier organization that focused on drought and development. The Member countries of the Djibouti-based organisation include: Kenya; Ethiopia; Djibouti; Uganda; Sudan; and Somalia.
Eritrea also disappointed by a plan adopted by the organisation to mediate a border dispute with its archenemy Ethiopia. Asmara considers that boundary commission had already demarcated the border and its decision is binding to Addis Ababa whereas Ethiopia says there should be more discussion on the issue.
Among IGAD’s most high-profile accomplishments is the holding of Naivasha peace talks in Kenya between northern and southern Sudan that ended with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Accord, ending more than two decades of civil war in Sudan.
IGAD also facilitated the Somali peace talks in Kenya that resulted in the formation of Somalia’s current transitional federal government, and is endorsing an African-Union peacekeeping operation in Somalia.
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