Sudan conflict: Egypt hosts summit of neighboring countries  as mass grave is discovered in Darfour

Egypt has joined a list of international players by hosting a regional summit of leaders from Sudan’s six neighboring countries in Cairo this Thursday, July 13, focused on preventing the outbreak of a civil war and addressing the deepening humanitarian crisis in the northeastern African country.

The peace talks, hosted by Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, were attended by the leaders of Ethiopia, South Sudan, Chad, Eritrea, the Central African Republic and Libya.

According to Egyptian security sources, the summit aims to stave off foreign interference in Sudan while influencing the fighting between both sides of the conflict — the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The peace plan proposed by Egypt reportedly aims to achieve a three-month ceasefire and open aid pathways amid a series of meetings with military and tribal leaders.

The high-level meeting in Cairo comes weeks after talks brokered by Saudi Arabia and the United States in Jeddah broke down after the two warring sides failed to stop fighting and violated at least 10 cease-fire agreements.

The urgency of finding a lasting solution of the conflict was also underscored by the latest discovery of a mass grave in Sudan’s West Darfur region, which was reportedly credited to the paramilitary RSF. The United Nations human rights office Thursday released a statement reporting at least 87 people, including ethnic Masalits were buried in the mass grave. Ongoing fighting between the RSF and SAF has in recent weeks sparked ethnically motivated bloodshed, bringing the country to the brink of civil war.