Sudan neighbours host peace summit in Cairo, amid UN warnings of ‘full-scale civil war’

Egypt kicked off a summit in Cairo on Thursday to discuss a solution to the worsening fighting in Sudan between the Sudanese army and the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The Egyptian presidency said in a statement that the meet aims to "develop effective mechanisms" with neighbouring African countries to bring the three-month conflict to an end, in coordination with other regional or international peace efforts.

As the summit reached its conclusion, Sisi, the summit's chair, commented on the humanitarian crisis in Sudan, which has seen tens of thousands displaced.

"An agreement has been reached among the members of Sudan's neighbouring countries" to facilitate "access to humanitarian assistance provided by the neighboring countries to Sudan", the statement read.

He further confirmed that this new aid effort would be done "in coordination with the relevant international agencies and organizations, and to encourage safe passage of aid to reach the most needy areas within Sudanese territory."

Wednesday marked the beginning of the preparatory session for the conference, with heads of state and government, along with high-level ministers from South Sudan, Chad, Libya, Ethiopia, the Central African Republic and Eritrea attending the summit in Cairo at the invitation of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Sudan was represented by a delegation including Deputy Chairman of the Sovereign Council Malik Akkar and the minister-designate for Foreign Affairs Ambassador Ali al-Sadiq, according to Sudanese media. 

The meeting comes as the UN warns that the conflict in Sudan was on the brink of "full-scale civil war", which is an unsurprising but major concern for Sudan’s neighbours, especially those who share borders with the war-torn country.

Over 1,000 civilians have been killed and 700,000 displaced in Sudan since tensions between rival generals – the leader of the Sudanese army and de facto head of state Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy and leader of the paramilitary RSF Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (known as Hemedti) - erupted into violence.

Since then, the violence has spread throughout the country, including into the Darfur province where the RSF has been implicated in targeted ethnic attacks against African tribal groups.

Neighbouring countries are worried of the ramifications of continued or worsening spillover, with Egypt already turning away thousands of Sudanese refugees. 

The Cairo summit follows in the footsteps of the failed US-Saudi Jeddah initiative and the East African International Authority on Development (IGAD) to broker peace. However, Egypt’s summit has been welcomed by the Sudanese army and its political representatives.

Sudanese Foreign Minister Ali al-Sadiq, who is attending the meeting and is allied with the military, said on Wednesday that they "look at [the summit] positively and hope to achieve its goals and solve Sudan’s problems".

He also warned that it would be “difficult to achieve its goals” if the peace endeavour faced interference from "those outside the region". Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the UAE have all been accused of backing sides in the conflict.

The RSF, who are not represented at the summit, were more tenuous about the meeting in Cairo.

Ahmed Abdeen, an advisor to the group, told The New Arab’s Arabic-language sister publication Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that they "welcome any effort or endeavor to end the current crisis in Sudan", adding that the RSF "have no position towards any country, including Egypt".

"We do not want Sudan to live in isolation from its regional environment and neighbouring countries as it did during the days of the ousted President Omar al-Bashir's regime," he concluded.