Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El Sisi yesterday called on all the warring parties in Sudan to stop the escalation and begin, without delay, serious negotiations aimed at reaching an immediate and sustainable ceasefire.
The President’s remarks came during the opening session of Sudan’s Neighboring Countries Summit, Presidency Spokesman Ahmed Fahmy said.
The summit brought together Egypt, Libya, Chad, Central Africa, South Sudan, Ethiopia, and Eritrea, along with the secretary-general of the Arab League and the African Union Commission (AUC) chairperson.
In his remarks, President Sisi urged all Sudanese parties to facilitate access to humanitarian aid, establish safe corridors to deliver that aid to the neediest areas in Sudan and put in place mechanisms to ensure the provision of the necessary protection for humanitarian aid convoys and international relief personnel to enable them to perform their work.
The President also highlighted the need to launch an inclusive dialogue for the Sudanese parties, with the participation of political and civil forces, and representatives of women and youth, aiming to start a comprehensive political process that meets the aspirations and aspirations of the Sudanese people for security, prosperity, stability and democracy.
The President, meanwhile, called for forming a communication mechanism emanating from this conference, to develop an executive action plan to reach a comprehensive solution to the Sudanese crisis, provided that the mechanism undertakes direct communication with the parties to the crisis, and coordination with existing mechanisms and frameworks.
The President said that the current situation in Sudan requires countries to unify their vision and positions towards the crisis and take consistent and unified decisions that contribute to resolving the crisis, in consultation with the proposals of regional institutions, led by the African Union and the Arab League.
The President also highlighted the seriousness of the current crisis facing Sudan and the repercussions of the fighting that has been going on for more than three months, which resulted in the loss of hundreds of civilian lives and the displacement of millions of people to safer areas inside Sudan, or to resort to neighboring countries.
This comes in addition to the huge material losses suffered by public and private properties and the destruction of many vital facilities in the country and the obstacles facing the agricultural season, which resulted in an acute shortage of food, the President added.
The President also said that this sharp deterioration of the humanitarian situation and those catastrophic repercussions of the crisis require an immediate and sustainable cessation of military operations, in order to preserve the capabilities of the Sudanese people and state institutions, so that they can carry out their responsibilities towards citizens.
“It also allows for a serious, coordinated and rapid humanitarian response from all parties in a way that rises to the enormity of this serious crisis, which requires addressing its roots, by reaching a comprehensive political solution that responds to the hopes and aspirations of the Sudanese people,” he added.
Immediately after the outbreak of the crisis in Sudan, Egypt took the initiative to receive hundreds of thousands of Sudanese brothers, who joined the approximately five million Sudanese citizens who have been living in Egypt for several years.
The Egyptian government also provided urgent relief aid, which included food and subsistence materials, and medical supplies, to the Sudanese people affected by the conflict inside Sudanese territory, the President said.
