Egypt and South Sudan offered today to mediate between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, which began fighting in Khartoum and other cities across the country yesterday, the Egyptian presidency said in a statement.

In a phone call between Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and his South Sudanese counterpart Salva Kiir today, Sudan’s two most influential immediate neighbors called on the two sides in the power struggle to “choose the voice of reason (and ) of peaceful dialogue,” the statement said.

In another development, the Peace and Stability Council of the African Union convened an emergency meeting today to discuss political and security developments in Sudan, it said on Twitter.

Meanwhile, the United Nations today condemned the killing of three World Food Program (WFP) staff amid clashes in Sudan yesterday, saying they were killed in the line of duty.

Volker Pertes, head of the UN UNITAMS mission, said today that the three WFP staff were killed in clashes in Kampkabiya in North Darfur yesterday.

“I am also appalled by reports of missiles hitting UN and other humanitarian facilities, as well as reports of looting of UN and other humanitarian facilities in several locations in Darfur,” Pertes, who is also UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Sudan.