Ruto in Uganda for IGAD, NAM summits amid regional tensions

President William Ruto is in Kampala, Uganda, to attend two key meetings centred on matters including regional cooperation and economic recovery.

A meeting of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) will focus on regional cooperation and development, "in line with Kenya's commitment to stability and progress in the Eastern Africa region", State House Spokesperson Hussein Mohamed said in a statement on Thursday.

The second meeting, set for Friday, is the 19th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), which will discuss crucial global issues, among them post-COVID-19 recovery strategies, international peace and multilateralism.

"President Ruto will contribute to discussions on key priorities such as reform of the United Nations, peace and security, Sustainable Development Goals, climate change and the reform of the international financial system," Hussein said.

Additionally, the president will hold meetings with his counterparts and other leaders, the aim being to strengthen diplomatic ties and highlight Kenya's role in regional and global affairs.

Ethiopia skipping IGAD summit

Uganda is the venue for an extraordinary IGAD summit to address escalating tensions between Ethiopia and Somalia, as well as the war in Sudan that began on April 15, 2023, between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The Ethiopia-Somalia dispute arose from a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that Ethiopia signed with Somaliland, a breakaway region of Somalia that claims autonomy but is not recognised as such.

The MoU allowed landlocked Ethiopia to lease a 20-kilometre marine base from Somaliland for its navy and commercial use, in exchange for recognition and a stake in the national Ethiopian Airways. Somalia, however, insists that Ethiopia has violated its sovereignty.

The summit is expected to provide a platform for member states to find peaceful resolutions but Ethiopia earlier withdrew from it, citing "prior engagements".

"We find it very difficult to attend the proposed meeting due to commitment to a prior engagement that overlaps with the scheduled meeting, and the short notice extended to convene the extraordinary summit. Nevertheless, Ethiopia stands ready to discuss alternative dates in line with the Rules of Procedure Governing Meetings of IGAD," the country said in a letter to the Djibouti Foreign Minister, the current chair of IGAD's foreign ministers.

A resolution is urgent, as the dispute has seen Ethiopia and Somalia take retaliatory actions against each other. On Wednesday, Mogadishu declined to give clearance for an Ethiopian flight headed to Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland, with senior Ethiopian officials on board.

In Sudan's case, Khartoum declared on Tuesday the suspension of its engagement and the freezing of all interactions with IGAD, over perceived interference with its internal affairs. Sudan says it was added to the agenda of the extraordinary meeting without prior consultations with its government and that a militia leader should not have been invited.

Also of concern to the region is the impact of a conflict between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, with Burundi joining in. Both the DRC and Burundi accuse Rwanda of backing the M23 and Red Tabara rebels, who have wreaked havoc in those countries. Burundi says Rwanda is therefore a "bad neighbour" and has closed its borders with the country, and expelled Rwandan diplomat Desire Nyaruhirira. Rwanda has denied the allegations.

The East African Community (EAC) has urged member states to deploy existing mechanisms to resolve any disputes.