Egypt hosts regional summit to halt bloodshed in war-torn Sudan

Egypt has invited war-torn Sudan’s neighbours for a summit Thursday to “stop the bloodshed”, the presidency said, with Ethiopia’s premier Abiy Ahmed in Cairo despite tensions over a massive Nile river project.

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Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed “discussed ways to settle the crisis in Sudan”, Sisi’s spokesman announced late Wednesday ahead of a larger regional meeting.

Fighting in Sudan since April 15 pits army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan — a close ally of Egypt’s — against his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Around 3,000 people have been killed in the violence, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project.

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The Egyptian presidency said in a statement the meeting in Cairo will be attended by representatives of “Sudan’s neighbouring countries”, but has not announced who else is expected to join Sisi and Abiy.

SUDAN

The talks aim to “stop the bloodshed of the Sudanese people” and the “negative repercussions on neighbouring countries”, Cairo said.

On Wednesday, Sisi and Abiy also discussed “strengthening bilateral relations between Egypt and Ethiopia and the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam,” Sisi’s spokesman said.

The two countries have long been at odds over Ethiopia’s mega-dam, which Cairo sees as an existential threat and Addis Ababa recently announced it would delay filling.

Thursday’s meeting in Cairo follows multiple diplomatic efforts to broker an end to the violence in Sudan, with repeated US- and Saudi-brokered ceasefires that have been systematically violated.

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More than 2.4 million people have been displaced within Sudan, while nearly 724,000 have escaped across the country’s borders, according to the International Organization for Migration.

The east African regional bloc IGAD on Monday held renewed talks, calling on the warring parties to “sign an unconditional ceasefire”.

The Sudanese army boycotted the gathering in Addis Ababa, after Khartoum’s foreign ministry objected to Kenyan President William Ruto’s leadership of the IGAD quartet tasked with finding a solution to the Sudan conflict.

It has accused Nairobi of siding with the RSF, dampening hopes for an end to the nearly three-month-old conflict.

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Experts believe Burhan and Daglo have opted for a war of attrition and are both hoping to extract more concessions at the negotiating table.