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19-08-2024
KHARTOUM: The international mediators engaged in talks to bring Sudan’s war to an end have welcomed decisions by the warring sides to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian relief to the country.
In a joint statement on Saturday, the sponsors of the talks in Switzerland lauded the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces’s commitment to cooperate with humanitarian deliveries to Sudan’s Darfur and Kordofan states.
The mediators, the United States, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, the African Union and the United Nations also praised the Sudanese Armed Forces’s decision to open the Adre border crossing with Chad into North Darfur for three months.
“These constructive decisions by both parties will enable the entry of aid needed to stop the famine, address food insecurity and respond to immense humanitarian needs in Darfur and beyond,” they said in a joint statement.
They also called on the warring sides to “immediately communicate and coordinate with humanitarian partners to efficiently operationalize these corridors with full and unhindered access”.
The talks kicked off in the Swiss city of Geneva on Wednesday in the absence of the Sudanese army, which has objected to the format of the negotiations.
The war in Sudan, which began last year, has led to one of the world’s worst humanitarian and displacement crises.
The Sudanese army, led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the RSF under Mohamad Hamdan Dagalo, better known as “Hemedti” have been vying for power and control of the African country of 46 million people.
Rights groups have called on both sides to avoid civilian harm and enable humanitarian access.
More than 25 million people are facing acute hunger across Sudan, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), an UN-backed body that monitors global hunger.
Earlier this week, the Sudanese army, which dominates the governing Transitional Sovereignty Council, announced the opening of the Adre border crossing into North Darfur. The IPC declared famine in parts of that region on August 1.
The RSF had also said it would facilitate the passage of humanitarian convoys through the Debbah crossing, north of Khartoum.
“The RSF remains steadfast in its commitment to ensuring the safe passage and protection of humanitarian convoys, in strict adherence to international humanitarian law,” the paramilitary group said in a statement.
It is not clear whether the two decisions are linked to the Geneva talks.
As the negotiations were ongoing in Switzerland, media reported citing local and medical sources that an RSF attack in the Jalgini village in the southeastern state of Sennar killed dozens of people this week.
The war in Sudan has displaced more than 10 million people and triggered a public health disaster. World Health Organization (WHO) official said a cholera outbreak has killed at least 316 people in the country.
The US has said that the talks in Geneva aim to end the fighting and alleviate the suffering in Sudan. On Friday, Washington called on the Sudanese Armed Forces to join the negotiations.
“The opening of Adre border crossing is an important result at a crucial time for humanitarian efforts to deliver assistance to those most in need and to avoid a worsening famine,” US Special Envoy for Sudan Tom Perriello said in a social media post. (Int’l News Desk)
