Chad’s President Mahamat Idriss Déby has told warring Sudan’s military rivals during a peace summit in Egypt that the plight of civilians caught up in the conflict should not be forgotten.
More than 230,000 people out of 700,000 who have fled Sudan are now in Chad. Inside Sudan more than three million have been displaced since the war began in mid-April.
“The clashes taking place in Sudan are a great source of concern for my country, and for all neighbouring countries,” President Déby said
“Chad has continued to deplore the deterioration of the situation, the destruction of public buildings, the attacks against innocent civilians and the targeting of basic social service institutions.
“In this regard, I call for a joint and active search for rapid and appropriate solutions for the provision of emergency relief in order to remedy the lack of food, medicine and medical equipment, to alleviate the pressures of the crisis on innocent civilians.”
The rival military factions have sent delegations to the summit in Cairo, but previous regional and international peace efforts have failed.
During the gathering on Thursday, attended by several of Sudan’s neighbours, Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki warned that bringing peace could be a slow process.
“This initiative is good but it is a start to an extremely long journey, because to move from the condition that the Sudanese people are currently in to reach safety, that will take effort, time and resources. As mentioned before, there should be a clear mechanism with practical references.”