The Forces of Freedom and Change Alliance (FFC), a civilian political coalition in Sudan, started a meeting on Monday in Cairo to discuss means to end the conflict that has lasted 100 days with no sign of respite.
In a statement on Sunday, the FFC described the two-day meeting, which is its first direct gathering since the outbreak of the conflict in April, as “important to address roots of the crisis.”
“The ongoing challenges that have exacerbated the sufferings of the Sudanese inside and outside the North African country necessitate putting an end to this conflict, foiling attempts to convert it into a civil war, and restoring the transitional civilian democratic rule,” the FFC said in the statement.
The meeting will discuss a comprehensive political solution that includes all except those affiliated to the dissolved National Congress Party, according to the statement.
On April 15, an armed conflict erupted between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, leading to a humanitarian crisis in the country.
The FFC, which is leading an internationally-backed plan to transfer the country to civilian rule, has been calling on the warring sides to reach a permanent cease-fire.
On July 13, leaders of Sudan’s seven neighboring countries: Egypt, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Chad, Eritrea, the Central African Republic and Libya, as well as high-ranked officials from the African Union and the Arab League, expressed in a summit held in Cairo full respect for Sudan’s unity and sovereignty and called for non-intervention in the domestic conflict.
They agreed to facilitate aid delivery through neighboring countries in coordination with international agencies and organizations and to form a ministerial mechanism comprised of the foreign ministers of Sudan’s neighboring states to formulate an executive action plan to end the fight. Its first meeting will take place in Chad.
The ongoing conflict in Sudan has left more than 3,000 killed and at least 6,000 injured, according to the Sudanese Health Ministry.
