ISTANBUL

Egypt said Sunday it will host a summit of Sudan’s neighbors on July 13 to discuss means of ending the conflict there.

Sudan has been ravaged by clashes between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group since April.

Nearly 3,000 civilians have been killed and thousands injured in the conflict, according to local medics.

Several cease-fire agreements brokered by Saudi and US mediators between the warring rivals had failed to end violence in the country.

In a statement, the Egyptian Presidency said the summit will discuss ways of ending the ongoing conflict in Sudan and its repercussions on the neighboring countries.

The summit seeks to set effective frameworks to peacefully settle the crisis in coordination with other regional and international tracks, it added.

Egypt’s hosting of the summit emanates from “the keenness of President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi to formulate a joint vision for Sudan’s direct neighboring countries,” the statement said.

Sisi is also keen to “take steps to resolve the crisis, end the bloodshed among Sudanese people and spare them the repercussions that they face,” it added.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates that nearly three million people have been displaced by the current conflict in Sudan.

Sudan has been without a functioning government since fall 2021, when the military dismissed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok's transitional government and declared a state of emergency, in a move decried by political forces as a "coup."

The transitional period, which started in August 2019 after the ouster of President Omar al-Bashir, had been scheduled to end with elections in early 2024.

*Writing by Ikram Kouachi in Ankara