By Xinhua
CAIRO,July 13 (Xinhua) -- Participants of the Sudan Neighboring Countries Summit held in the Egyptian capital of Cairo on Thursday rejected foreign intervention in the conflict-ridden country and urged immediate and comprehensive talks between the rival Sudanese military factions that triggered a regional humanitarian crisis.The
communique of the meeting emphasized that Sudan's sovereignty should be respected and there should be no foreign interference. It also voiced great concern over the ongoing military operations and the acute
deterioration of the security and humanitarian situation in Sudan.
This photo taken on July 13, 2023 shows a scene of the Sudan Neighboring Countries Summit in Cairo, Egypt. (Egyptian Presidency/Handout via Xinhua)"A ministerial mechanism will be formed to formulate an executive action plan to end the fight and its first meeting will take place in Chad,"
the communique read, calling on civil organizations and donor countries
to fulfill aid and relief pledges to the war-torn country.Leaders
from Egypt, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Chad, Eritrea, the Central African
Republic, and Libya, as well as officials of the Arab League and African Union Commission, attended the meeting.They
called for a permanent ceasefire that paves the road for reaching a
political solution and transitional government in a peaceful way.Clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) broke out on April 15, with the two sides accusing each other of initiating the conflict.
This photo taken on July 13, 2023 shows a scene of the Sudan Neighboring Countries Summit in Cairo, Egypt. (Egyptian Presidency/Handout via Xinhua)African Union Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat said that negative domestic and foreign factors have exploited the situation in Sudan."We seek to end the Sudanese crisis and to stop the wave of displacement of the people," he said, calling for returning to the negotiations table to reach a peaceful solution.Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit said a political path involving all the Sudanese factions should be found to stop the bloodshed.Opposing foreign intervention, the pan-Arab body's secretary-general said,
"Sudan's neighboring countries endure security and humanitarian burdens
and have an important role in the coordination efforts to end the raging conflict."The repercussions of the fighting in Sudan resulted in the deaths of hundreds of civilians and the displacement of millions of its people to safer areas inside the country or in neighboring countries, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi said."Egypt
has received hundreds of thousands of our Sudanese brothers, who joined around five million Sudanese people already living on Egyptian soil for several years," Sisi said.The ongoing armed conflict in Sudan challenged agricultural production, which caused acute food shortages and led to the deterioration of healthcare and shortages in medicines and healthcare supplies.Sisi called on all Sudanese parties to facilitate the access of humanitarian assistance and establish safe passages to deliver aid, stressing the significance of creating a communication mechanism during the conference in order to formulate an executive action plan that aimed at reaching a comprehensive solution to the Sudanese crisis.
This photo taken on April 18, 2023 shows massive fire in a major market in Bahri city, north of Sudan's capital Khartoum. (Xinhua/ Mohamed Khidir) Salva Kiir Mayardit, the president of South Sudan, said all of Sudan's neighbors have faced flows of refugees who have put a strain on their social and economic resources.Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki voiced rejection of foreign intervention in Sudan, adding "there is no justification for this in the current war.""Today's
summit is an opportunity to start joint work for securing the country,
so each of the neighboring countries can cooperate with Sudan," Afwerki
added.The ongoing war in Sudan has left more than 3,000 people killed and at least 6,000 others injured, according to the Sudanese Health Ministry.More than 2.8 million people have been displaced, mostly internally, since the conflict broke out in Sudan, according to figures released by the UN.
