FILE PHOTO: Deputy head of Sudan's sovereign council General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo speaks during a press conference at Rapid Support Forces head quarter in Khartoum, Sudan February 19, 2023. REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah/File Photo
(Reuters) - The leader of Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo said on Wednesday he met Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni, his first confirmed appearance outside of Sudan since the war between RSF and the Sudanese army broke out in April.
Dagalo, whose whereabouts during the war have been unknown, said on X the two discussed developments in Sudan, as well as his vision for negotiations to end the war. Museveni confirmed the meeting in a post on X, saying he welcomed Dagalo to his country home Rwakitura.
Sudan's army and the RSF have been locked since mid-April in a conflict that has devastated the capital Khartoum and triggered waves of ethnic killings in Darfur despite several rounds of diplomacy to halt the fighting.
The RSF has been gaining momentum, taking over Wad Madani, a city in the centre of the country earlier this month. Its soldiers have been accused of looting and killing civilians including in surrounding villages, allegations it rejects.
Sudan's foreign ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that Dagalo was not able to travel to Djibouti, the current chair of regional body IGAD for a planned initial meeting with Sudan's army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.
The meeting, which was meant to help find an end to the war, is to be rescheduled to an unspecified date in January due to "technical issues," the statement said.
A source familiar with the matter said the meeting was postponed because of disagreements between the two, without giving further details.
(Reporting by Nafisa El Taher and Giulia Paravicini, writing by Yomna Ehab and Sarah El Safty; Editing by Tomasz Janowski and Grant McCool)
