Foreign ministers from countries bordering Sudan met in the Chadian capital N’Djamena on Monday to discuss ways to end the four-month-old conflict that has gripped the country and sent tens of thousands of South Sudanese back home.

South Sudan’s Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Deng Dau Deng participated in the meeting and said the meeting discussed his country’s position about ways to negotiate a peaceful settlement in Sudan.

The meeting is being attended by participants from the African Union (AU) and the League of Arab States, as well as the foreign ministers of neighbouring countries.

“South Sudan gave its proposal to this effect, which was among other proposals discussed,” Hon. Deng said, according to a statement released by the foreign ministry.

“The discussion centred around the critical issues of how to stop the war and to let the Sudanese parties take centre stage on the future of the Sudan. The road map and track phases were discussed and are to be raised with the heads of state and government, “Dau continued.

The team of foreign ministers also met with Chadian President General Mahamat Idris Deby, who took power in 2021 after the killing of his father Idriss Déby during a battle with rebel forces.

“The Chadian President thanked and welcomed them for coming to N’Djamena for this important meeting. He stressed the need to bring the resolutions of the meeting to the level of the heads of States and Governments of the neighbouring countries,” the statement says.

As fighting rages on in Sudan, a leading human rights organization has documented what it says are extensive war crimes being carried out by the two parties in the conflict.

In a new report published on Thursday, August 3, Amnesty International documented attacks by both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), headed by rivals General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo respectively, which resulted in heavy civilian casualties.