07 Aug 2023, Juba, SOUTH SUDAN – A meeting of ministers of foreign affairs from countries bordering the Sudan gets underway in the Chadian capital on Monday to discuss implementation of an Egyptian initiative aimed at ending the deadly conflict in Sudan.
South Sudan’s Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Hon. Deng Dau Deng, arrived in N’Djamena on Sunday to join counterparts from seven other countries, including Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, the Central African Republic and Libya.
“I had arrived in Chad this afternoon. The meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the neighbouring countries will start this evening, and the opening will be tomorrow. The meeting brings the seven foreign minister’s neighbours of Sudan”, Hon. Deng said.
The meeting comes as Chad grapples with multiple problems such as the huge influx of Sudanese refugees into the country, insecurity as a result ofa reduced security presence in border regions and worsening humanitarian conditions, exacerbated by large funding gaps and poor harvests.
In July, leaders of the seven countries bordering Sudan, meeting in Cairo, endorsed an Egyptian initiate to end the ongoing conflict in the Sudan. The Cairo meeting was the most high-profile since violence broke out across Sudan and was attended by amongst others, President Salva Kiir.
Fighting erupted in mid April between Sudanese government forces under Gen. Abdel Fatah Al Burhan, chairman of Sudan’s Sovereign Council and commander in chief of the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF), and Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, commander of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Since then, South Sudan has had regular contacts with the leaders of the warring parties in an effort to end the fighting that has left thousands dead and, according to the UN migration agency, IOM, forced has forced some four million people to flee their homes in a little over 100 days.