The Egyptian capital, Cairo, on Wednesday, 14 January 2026, hosted a meeting attended by regional and international powers to coordinate peace efforts in Sudan. The meeting was chaired by Egypt’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Badr Abdel Aaty.
According to the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the meeting witnessed broad participation by delegations from regional and international states and organizations, foremost among them the United Nations Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy, Ramtane Lamamra, Senior Adviser to the U.S. President for Arab and African Affairs Massad Boulos, and UAE Minister of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Shakhboot bin Nahyan.
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry stated that the meeting comes within the framework of “intensifying international and regional efforts to address the grave challenges imposed by the delicate regional circumstances Sudan is currently experiencing.”
Abdel Aaty said that the Sudanese crisis requires “the concerted efforts of sincere international and regional actors to accelerate the cessation of bloodshed.” He stressed “the seriousness of the current phase and the severe repercussions it carries for regional peace and security, particularly in neighboring countries, the Horn of Africa, and the Red Sea region.”
The Foreign Minister also spoke of Egypt’s positive participation in efforts and tracks aimed at achieving peace and stability in Sudan, including the International Quartet mechanism and the expanded African Union mechanism.
He affirmed Egypt’s keenness to continue working within the framework of the International Quartet to reach a comprehensive humanitarian truce that would lead to a sustainable ceasefire, in parallel with the launch of an inclusive, Sudanese-owned political process.
The Quartet comprises the United Arab Emirates, the United States of America, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. In September, it put forward a roadmap to end the war, including a three-month humanitarian truce and the facilitation of humanitarian aid delivery, to be followed by a permanent ceasefire.
The government of the Sudan Founding Alliance “Ta’sis” welcomed the initiative and announced its readiness to implement all its provisions, while the army in Port Sudan rejected the proposal and insisted on a military resolution.
Unconventional Recruitment
Meanwhile, at the level of field developments, the city of Al-Huda in Al-Managil locality is witnessing a disruption in the operation of a dialysis center after the building was used as a military barracks by army mobilized forces.
“This disruption reveals the fragility of the healthcare infrastructure in rural areas and the heavy price paid by citizens when vital facilities are turned into contested spaces between parties to the conflict. The center, which was built entirely through community efforts and material and in-kind contributions from farmers and workers, was intended to ease the suffering of hundreds of patients who travel long distances to receive dialysis sessions, before its operation was halted due to its conversion into a headquarters for popular resistance,” Al-Rakoba News reported.
According to the same source, “leaders of the popular resistance who are using the center as their headquarters refused to vacate the premises, leading to the freezing of the handover process and the suspension of work at a facility that had been awaiting inauguration for months.”
As local residents see it, this disruption reflects “how security and political conditions can obstruct community initiatives that have taken years of work, donation, and planning.” One resident said, “The center was built with sweat and toil, and it must not be turned into a military site under any circumstances,” expressing a widespread sentiment that the presence of forces inside a medical facility threatens the safety of sensitive equipment and deprives patients of a basic right to treatment, according to the newspaper.
The Al-Huda City Development Committee, along with citizens, called for urgent intervention by the competent authorities to evacuate the building and restore it to its original purpose, stressing “that humanitarian interest must take precedence over any other considerations.”
They pointed out that “the continuation of the current situation not only obstructs the operation of the center, but also threatens the loss of confidence in the ability of local institutions to protect community projects upon which rural areas depend amid the decline of government services.”
Forced Recruitment
Since the outbreak of the armed conflict between the army and Ta’sis forces in April 2023, forced recruitment of young men and boys across Sudan has escalated to compensate for heavy human losses, according to Sudanese Radio Dabanga.
Multiple reports in national and foreign media revealed that “military intelligence and military police units affiliated with the Sudanese army carried out raids on homes, markets, mosques, and displacement shelters, particularly in cities such as Dongola, Shendi, and Port Sudan, to forcibly abduct young men and send them to training camps,” according to the same source.
The report included testimony from a young man named Al-Tijani Mohamed Raqiq from South Kordofan, who lost his schooling and was then forcibly recruited into the army. He said: “The authorities linked the distribution of relief materials to recruitment. They come to homes and recruit three to four young men from each family in exchange for providing food, with the recruit receiving a monthly salary of 120,000 pounds along with a few sacks of sorghum.” He added that he joined the army in July 2024 and graduated in mid-2025 as part of a group of 15 young men.
He continued: “We went to the Al-Kayqa Al-Kheil area north of Kadugli, and from there we entered the battles and I was captured. The reality was tantamount to forced detention, with no choice and no dignity, where carrying a weapon became the sole price for salary and appointment.”
These practices constitute a clear violation of Common Article Three of the Geneva Conventions, which criminalizes forced exploitation during times of conflict, particularly when carried out through indirect coercive means such as deprivation of food or humanitarian assistance.
Weapons in the Hands of Children
Army losses in Port Sudan have driven it to rely on recruitment in exchange for food, and at times through coercion. This, however, has not stopped there, as it has also resorted to the recruitment of children.
An investigation conducted by Ayin Network and the Sudanese Human Rights Center (SHRH) documented widespread recruitment of children, some voluntary through exploitation of their families’ dire economic conditions, and others carried out forcibly.
Children have been recruited in the current war “despite Sudan’s ratification in 2005 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, which prohibits the participation of children under the age of 18 in armed conflicts and permits only voluntary recruitment starting from the age of 15 in accordance with international humanitarian law. Armed groups, however, are subject to a stricter prohibition that includes both voluntary and compulsory recruitment of those under the age of 18,” according to the investigation.
In this context, the Minister of Education in Port Sudan, Al-Tahami Al-Zein, announced last August the exemption of students participating in military combat from school fees, a move that human rights advocates considered an official acknowledgment by the government of pushing children into combat operations, noting that this constitutes a violation of international and domestic laws.
Legal expert Noon Kaskoush affirmed that “the use of children in hostilities or their recruitment constitutes one of the war crimes.” She noted that it is “a violation of international humanitarian law and the two protocols concerned with the protection of civilians.”
She added that “the Rome Statute also criminalized the use and recruitment of children in war, which falls under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court,” stressing the possibility of “filing a complaint with the International Criminal Court as the competent body.”
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