Egypt will host on Thursday a summit of Sudan’s neighbouring countries to discuss a solution to the fighting between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan, which has caused a major humanitarian crisis in the region.
Sudan said, Wednesday, it views “positively” an Egyptian initiative to host a summit of neighbouring countries to look into ways of resolving the Sudanese conflict, Anadolu Agency reports.
The Egyptian presidency said in a statement that the summit aims to “develop effective mechanisms” with neighboring countries to resolve the conflict peacefully, in coordination with other regional and international efforts.
The summit will also be tackling the effects of the war on neighboring countries that have had to provide immediate help to the Sudanese fleeing their country, accepting more than 600,000 refugees so far.
“We look positively at the Egyptian initiative to discuss ways to end the conflict in Sudan, and we hope that this summit will achieve its goals in solving Sudan’s problems,” Foreign Minister, Ali Al-Sadiq, said in a statement.
The fighting that erupted on 15 April in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, has driven more than 2.9 million people from their homes, including almost 700,000 who have fled to neighboring countries.
Sudan has been ravaged by clashes between the Army and the RSF since April, in a conflict that killed nearly 3,000 civilians and injured thousands, according to local medics.
Several cease-fire agreements brokered by Saudi and US mediators between the warring rivals have failed to end violence in the country.
On Monday, Sudan refused to attend a regional summit chaired by Kenya to discuss ways of resolving the Sudanese crisis, accusing Nairobi of favouring the RSF.
The meeting called for deploying peacekeepers in Sudan to stop the bloodshed there.
“If outsiders get involved in any [regional] initiative, it would be difficult to achieve its goals,” Al-Sadiq said, in reference to Kenya.
The top diplomat accused Kenyan President, William Ruto, and Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, of “seeking to achieve some gains in the region”.
“This will not happen at the expense of Sudan,” he added.
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) estimates that nearly three million people have been displaced by the current conflict in Sudan.
Last week, UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, warned that the ongoing conflict in Sudan may lead to a full-scale civil war.
