Egypt urges peace in Sudan as fighting continues

Cairo has urged the adoption of a peace plan in Sudan after the Egyptian Foreign Minister met with Sudan’s military chief on November 11^th, according to Africa News via AP.

Egypt’s Badr Abdelatty visited Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan in the Sudanese Red Sea city of Port Sudan, where the pair discussed a ceasefire plan to halt Sudan’s civil war.

The meeting comes just weeks after the Sudanese paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) captured the strategically key city of El-Fasher, which is the capital of North Darfur state.

The RSF has been at war with the military since April 2023 after a power struggle turned bloody. The paramilitary group imposed a siege on El-Fasher in May 2024 as part of a wider and now successful campaign to flush out the last remaining military stronghold in the entire western region of Darfur.

Abdelatty reiterated Cairo’s condemnation of the mass atrocities inflicted on El-Fasher’s civilian population by the RSF since its capture, emphasising the urgent “need to commit to the peace plan.”

He was referring to a ceasefire proposal that was conceived at the UN General Assembly in September between a mediation group known as the Sudan Quad, which is composed of the United States, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates.

The plan seeks to implement a three-month humanitarian truce to alleviate the catastrophic effects the war has had on civilians, followed by a nine-month political process to reach a settlement between the warring factions.

The RSF announced that it had agreed to the humanitarian truce at the beginning of November; however, fighting has continued in the military-controlled capital of Khartoum.

To further complicate peace talks, the military has articulated its refusal to adopt the peace plan unless the RSF withdraws from civilian areas across the country and immediately disarms.

Another element that is preventing the military from conforming to the conditions set out in the peace proposal is the UAE’s presence in the Sudan Quad. The military is joined by several international and humanitarian organisations in alleging – with substantial evidence – that the Emirates backs the RSF with arms, intelligence, and funding.

After the meeting with Abdelatty, Sudanese Foreign Minister Muhiedin Salim stated that the military-backed government “does not deal officially” with the Sudan “Quad”, according to the Sudan Tribune on November 11^th.

He elaborated that Khartoum is willing to “deal with our brothers in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and with friends in the United States in bilateral capacities.” However, Salim emphasised Sudan’s refusal to engage with the UAE in any diplomatic capacity, proclaiming that Abu Dhabi should not masquerade as a peace-driven neutral mediator in a war that it is fuelling.

Africa News via AP, Maghrebi.org, Middle East Eye, Sudan Tribune