MOSCOW, September 27. /TASS/. During his meeting with Chairman of the Transitional Sovereignty Council of the Republic of Sudan Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov underscored the need to end hostilities in this African country as soon as possible.

"The conversation focused on the situation in Sudan in the context of the ongoing military confrontation between the military and the rapid response forces. The Russian side underscored the need to end the hostilities as soon as possible and start a broad national dialogue," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement about the meeting, which took place on the sidelines of the 79th Session of the UN General Assembly.

"Various aspects of further development of traditionally friendly Russian-Sudanese relations were discussed," the statement says.

The sides "reaffirmed their mutual determination to maintain active foreign policy coordination within the framework of the UN and other international platforms."

The situation in Sudan escalated in April 2023 amid disagreements between the army chief, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who also heads the ruling Sovereignty Council, and the head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. The main points of contention between the two military organizations are related to the timeline and methods of forming unified armed forces of Sudan, as well as who should become the commander-in-chief of the army: a career military officer, which is an option supported by al-Burhan, or an elected civilian president, as Dagalo insists. On April 15, armed clashes between the rival military factions erupted near a military base in Merowe and in the capital, Khartoum. The conflict has left thousands dead and tens of thousands injured.

The World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in mid-June that Sudan is gripped by "the world’s largest humanitarian crisis" with more than 70% of hospitals in conflict-hit regions not functioning. According to the UN International Organization for Migration, the number of internally displaced persons in Sudan has exceeded 7 million.