Details: Ruto Flies Out To Djibouti, To Meet Presidents At IGAD Summit
On Monday, June 12, 2023, President Ruto will participate in the 14th Ordinary Assembly of IGAD Heads of State and Government.
Marvin Chege 
President William Ruto will on Saturday evening, June 10 depart the country for a State Visit to the Republic of Djibouti.
This was announced by State House spokesperson, Hussein Mohamed, who revealed in a statement that after the visit, the Head of State will thereafter participate in the 14th Ordinary Assembly of Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Heads of State and Government.
"During the State Visit, President Ruto will engage in bilateral talks with his Djibouti counterpart President Ismail Omar Guelleh, aimed at strengthening and deepening the existing ties between the two nations.
"The discussions will cover various areas of mutual interest, including trade relations, collaboration in the field of green energy, as well as the pursuit of regional peace and security. President Ruto is also scheduled to address members of the Djibouti parliament," the statement read in part.
President William Ruto lands in Tanzania for a two-day official visit on October 9, 2022. /PCS
On Monday, June 12, 2023, President Ruto will participate in the 14th Ordinary Assembly of IGAD Heads of State and Government.
"This highly anticipated gathering marks the first IGAD summit since 2019, underlining its importance in promoting regional diplomacy and cooperation," added the statement.
The summit will also witness deliberations on critical regional matters, with a particular focus on the situation in Sudan, as well as the overall state of peace and security in the region.
On Wednesday, April 19, President Ruto expressed concern about the conflict in Sudan that has recently seen Saudi Arabia and the United States announce a 24-hour ceasefire starting Saturday, June 10 between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, according to the Saudi Foreign Ministry.
"Kenya is deeply alarmed that a misunderstanding over a single outstanding item in the Political Framework Agreement, namely the time frame for integrating the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) into the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF), has degenerated into violent conflict. As a result, the parties to the Framework Agreement have been engaged in a military confrontation," he addressed in a televised statement.
He noted that the indiscriminate deployment of lethal weapons and air power by both RSF and SAF has targeted military and non-military targets, causing devastating damage to property as well as strategic public infrastructure, including roads, bridges and airports.
"We are also deeply concerned that members of the diplomatic community have been targeted and civilians, in general, have been caught in the crossfire. A pattern of systematic violation of established norms and principles of international humanitarian laws is clearly emerging and this situation is evolving into a threat to regional and international peace and security," he went on.
On behalf of Kenya, Ruto implored the leadership of the two parties to ensure full compliance with the resolution of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Heads of State Summit held on Sunday, April 16.
"This includes an immediate cessation of hostilities, allowing unrestricted access to humanitarian aid and extending full cooperation to the IGAD Heads of States mission when it visits Khartoum," he directed.
He termed the outcome of these engagements and evidence of cooperation from the two parties as crucial to the resumption and conclusion of negotiations on the Political Framework Agreement.
In urging this course of action, Kenya noted that disregard for the resolutions, coupled with the evident lack of commitment to ending the conflict, strongly indicates that attacks on diplomatic installations and personnel, as well as the targeting of hospitals, hotels, other vital public and social spaces, are deliberate, systematic and tantamount to atrocities against humanity.
The Kenyan Head of State sounded a warning of the escalation of hostilities in Sudan which could implicate external, regional and international actors and degenerate into a security and humanitarian crisis on a disastrous scale.
