A summit of African leaders from war-torn Sudan’s neighbors Thursday urged an end to the fighting, as UN experts reported a mass grave had been discovered in the country’s Darfur region.
While Cairo hosted the crisis meeting on the nearly three-month-old conflict, gun battles, explosions, and the roar of fighter jets again shook the Sudanese capital Khartoum.
At least 3,000 people have been killed and millions have fled their homes in the war between Sudan’s rival generals, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project.
Leaders of Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Chad, South Sudan, Central African Republic and Libya as well as of the African Union and Arab League met in Cairo to discuss the war and its regional impact.
He called on the international community “to honor the commitments” made last month when donors pledged $1.5 billion in aid, less than half the estimated need for Sudan and its affected neighbors.
The summit called on both parties to secure corridors for urgently needed aid, even as Sudan’s humanitarian crisis deepened.
Since the war erupted on April 15 between Sudan’s army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, nearly 724,000 people have fled abroad, according to the International Organization for Migration.
The UN’s human rights office OHCHR on Thursday reported new evidence of atrocities in the region.
Sudan’s neighbors, many already mired in economic and political crises, have feared a widening regional spillover since the conflict began.
Khalil Wakim, with AFP
