AU chairperson renews call for end to Sudan conflict

December 18, 2023 (ADDIS ABABA) – The Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC), Moussa Faki Mahamat has expressed growing concern at the deteriorating security situation in Sudan amid calls for an end to the ongoing war.

In a statement issued on Monday, Mahamat voiced concerns over the reports of the renewed attacks on the Abu Shok camp for internally displaced persons in El Fasher, as well as the spread of the fighting to Wad Medani in Gezira state.

“The Chairperson notes with dismay, the reopening of traumatic wounds for many Darfurians, who for over the past twenty years, have lived in Abu Shok as a place of refuge, but fighting resumed there in recent days,” partly reads the statement.

Similarly, attacks on Wad Medani have reportedly opened up a new front in the Sudanese war that is now in its 9th month.  Wad Medani has in recent months welcomed millions of Sudanese civilians who have fled the fighting in Khartoum, and many of them are being forced to flee for a second time since mid-April 2023.

Mahamat urged the the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to immediately cease hostilities and participate meaningfully in negotiations towards building and sustaining peace.

He reaffirmed the AU’s readiness to continue to work with key national stakeholders, regional and global actors including the regional bloc (IGAD), League of Arab States and the United Nations towards the swift resolution of the conflict in Sudan.

(ST)