Nairobi – Kenya was condemned by Sudan and critics at home as “criminally irresponsible” on Wednesday for hosting Sudanese paramilitary rebels who are to declare a parallel government. The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, at war with the Sudanese army for nearly two years, are preparing to declare a government in territories under their control during an event in Nairobi on Friday, RSF sources told a wire service. Sudan’s foreign ministry, loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, criticised Kenya for allowing the event. The move “promotes the dismembering of African states, violates their sovereignty, and interferes in their internal affairs”, it said in a statement. Kenyan President William Ruto also faced widespread criticism at home. “What Ruto is doing is a reckless abandonment of the traditional caution and dignified approach to Kenyan diplomacy,” Mukhisa Kituyi, a Kenyan politician and former secretary-general of United Nations Trade and Development, told a wire service. He is “trying to legitimise a criminal gang that has been dismembering people,” he added, calling the move “criminally irresponsible”.
