Egypt To Host Summit Of Sudan’s Neighbours To Discuss Plans To End Conflict
Egypt will host a summit of Sudan’s neighbours on July 13 to discuss ways to end a 12-week conflict between rival Sudanese military factions that has triggered a major humanitarian crisis, the Egyptian presidency said on Sunday.
The summit aims to “develop effective mechanisms” with neighbouring states to settle the conflict peacefully, in coordination with other regional or international efforts, the presidency said in a statement.
The fighting that erupted on April 15 in the Sudanese capital Khartoum has driven more than 2.9 million people from their homes, including almost 700,000 who have fled to neighbouring countries.
Over 255,000 have crossed into Egypt, according to the latest figures from the International Organization for Migration.
Egypt has close ties to Sudan’s army, which has been battling the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in Khartoum and other parts of Sudan.
Egypt was not involved in talks in Jeddah led by the United States and Saudi Arabia that were adjourned last month after failing to secure a lasting ceasefire.
While the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) quickly dominated the capital Khartoum and its sister cities Omdurman and Bahri after fighting broke out on April 15, the army has launched air and artillery strikes.
The fighting, for which no mediation efforts have succeeded thus far, threatens to drag the country into a wider civil war, drawing in other internal and external actors in the East African nation that lies between the Horn of Africa, Sahel, and Red Sea.
Tensions between both sides had grown in the months leading up to the war over the chain of command and integration of their forces under a new transition to democracy.
At least 1,133 people have been killed in the fighting, according to the federal health ministry, which has flared in the capital and the Kordofan and Darfur regions, sparking ethnic violence in West Darfur state.
More than 2.9 million people have been uprooted, including nearly 700,000 who have fled to neighbouring countries. More than half of the capital has
It has also caused “alarming numbers” of rape and abduction of women and girls, according to aid agencies.
Fighting has focused on Omdurman in recent days, as the western part of the city is a key supply route for the RSF to bring reinforcements in from Darfur, its power base.
Strikes, including overnight on Friday, have also centred on the country’s state broadcasting complex in eastern Omdurman. Other overnight strikes hit southern and eastern Khartoum.
The army said in a post on Facebook that special forces had killed 20 “rebel soldiers” and destroyed their weaponry.
