Representatives of anti-war political parties and a diverse group of Sudanese society figures, including former Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok gathered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Tuesday.
Their objective is to discuss the formation of a broader political coalition to stop the ongoing war and restore democracy.
Initially scheduled for October 21, the conference sessions were postponed to October 24 to ensure the participation of all delegations. The meeting will continue for three days.
Al-Baqir Afifi, Chairman of the Preparatory Committee, articulated during the conference’s opening address that the meeting’s purpose is to establish the most extensive Sudanese civil Front, uniting active forces within the Sudanese society.
Afifi emphasized that the Civil Front aims to attain political legitimacy, enabling civil forces to represent the Sudanese population through a significant civil and political coalition.
Rasha Awad, a member of the High Committee, clarified that the conference seeks to create a unified front that consolidates civil forces into a single entity, with the primary objectives of ending the ongoing conflict and reinstating democratic processes in Sudan.
She stressed, “Establishing a unified civil front is the most pressing task at the moment, given the dire humanitarian conditions prevailing in the country.”
Awad further explained that the Front’s goal is to ensure that the voice of the civil population is heard, preventing the nation’s destiny from being solely determined by warring factions.
The meetings come after more than six months of fighting between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which began in Khartoum and expanded to include large areas in Darfur and Kordofan.
An estimated 9,000 people have been killed and another 5.6 million forced to flee their homes during the conflict, according to the United Nations.
About 18,750 people were newly displaced within Sudan over the past week, bringing the total number of people displaced across the country since mid-April to 4.57 million, UN figures show.