Egypt to host summit of Sudan's neighbours in bid to end the war

Cairo says meeting seeks to safeguard Sudanese state and curb fallout in region

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi. His country will host talks aimed at ending conflict in Sudan. Reuters

Egypt plans to host a summit of Sudan's neighbours on July 13 to end the bloodshed in the vast Afro-Arab nation after nearly three months of war.

The meeting in Cairo will look into ways to end the conflict between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the Egyptian presidency said on Sunday.

Beside Egypt, Sudan's neighbours are Libya, Chad, South Sudan, Central African Republic, Ethiopia and Eritrea.

The presidency statement said the summit would also look into the negative impact of Sudan's conflict on its neighbours and seek to "put in place effective mechanisms to peacefully settle it in co-ordination with other regional and international tracks”.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned on Sunday that Sudan was on the verge of a full-scale civil war that could destabilise the whole region.

Egypt's government said the meeting would seek to safeguard the Sudanese state and curb any fallout in the wide region.

Thousands have been killed since the fighting began in mid-April. It has created a major humanitarian crisis, including the displacement of more than 2.5 million people. More than 200,000 Sudanese have fled across the border into Egypt, which has a resident Sudanese community estimated at 4 million.

Egypt and its southern neighbour have been on-and-off allies for decades. Egypt has traditionally viewed Sudan as part of its national security sphere. They share the Nile waters and their peoples are bound by centuries-old social, cultural and economic ties.