Islamic bloc to hold emergency meeting over conflict-torn Sudan

ANKARA

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) will convene in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Wednesday to discuss the latest situation in conflict-torn Sudan.

In a written statement, the Muslim group said: “The OIC Executive Committee will hold an emergency meeting, on Wednesday, 3 May 2023, at the headquarters of the General Secretariat in Jeddah, to discuss the situation in the Republic of Sudan.”

Meanwhile, OIC Secretary-General Hissein Brahim Taha said the meeting “reflects the interest of member states in the current events in Sudan and their keenness to restore security and stability in the country.”

He urged the sides in Sudan for a permanent cease-fire, stressing the need to turn to dialogue to preserve the security and safety of the Sudanese people, and the state and to resume the political process.

Separately, the permanent members of the Arab League on Monday gathered in Egypt’s capital Cairo for an emergency meeting to discuss the latest situation in Sudan.

The league’s first meeting in Cairo on April 16 also called for “an immediate cessation of armed clashes in Sudan and a quick return to the peaceful path to resolve the crisis.”

Armed clashes erupted in mid-April between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the capital Khartoum.

At least 528 people have been killed and more than 4,500 injured in the fighting between two rival generals in Sudan – army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF commander Mohammed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo – since April 15, according to Sudan’s Health Ministry.

A disagreement had been fomenting in recent months between the army and the paramilitary force regarding the RSF’s integration into the armed forces, a key condition of Sudan's transition agreement with political groups.

Sudan has been without a functioning government since October 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.”

Sudan’s transitional period, which started in August 2019 after the ouster of President Omar al-Bashir, is scheduled to end with elections in early 2024.