KHARTOUM: The UN envoy for Sudan on Friday welcomed a deal between the country’s warring generals promising safe passage to civilians fleeing the conflict and protection for humanitarian operations in the East African nation.
The envoy, Volker Perthes, said the agreement was an important first step toward a cease-fire to the fighting which is about to enter its fourth week.
The Sudanese military and the country’s paramilitary, the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, signed a pact late Thursday vowing to alleviate humanitarian suffering across the country, although a truce remains elusive.
Both sides also agreed to refrain from attacks likely to harm civilians. The violence has already killed over 600 people, including civilians, according to the UN healthy agency.
“The most important element is that both sides commit to continue talks,” Perthes said during an online UN news conference from his office in Port Sudan. International efforts to turn the deal into a cease-fire have already started, he added.
The Associated Press obtained a copy of the agreement, which outlines a series of shared pledges and promises to “facilitate humanitarian action in order to meet the needs of civilians.”
The deal signing-ceremony, brokered by the United Sates and Saudi Arabia, was aired by Saudi state media in the early hours of Friday morning. Neither the military nor the RSF immediately issued statements acknowledging Thursday’s pact.
It does not provide any detail on how the agreed-on humanitarian promises would be upheld by troops on the ground. Previously, both sides agreed to several short cease-fires, since the fighting broke out on April 15, but all have been violated.
In a post on Twitter, Amjad Farid, a Sudan analyst and former aid to the country’s prime minister, said the deal is unlikely to bring any real change on the ground. Other commentators expressed similar skepticism.
It is “composed of texts that are already in the international humanitarian law and treaties related to the treatment of civilians in times of war,” Farid wrote.
Despite the signing, residents in Khartoum said fighting continued throughout Friday morning.
“I woke up to an airstrike (landing) nearby,” said Waleed Adam, a resident living in the east of the capital.
Over the past weeks, the fighting has turned the capital Khartoum into an urban battlefield, and triggered deadly ethnic clashes in the western Darfur region. Around 200,000 people have fled the country, said UNHCR spokeswoman Olga Sarrado, who was also present at Friday’s news conference.
The US State Department late Thursday said talks in Jeddah will now focus on arranging “an effective cease-fire of up to approximately 10 days.”
The UN and several rights groups have accused both sides — the military, led by Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces, commanded by Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo — of numerous human rights violations. The army has been accused of indiscriminately bombing civilian areas, while the RSF has been condemned for widespread looting, abusing residents, and turning civilian homes into operational bases. Both continue to level blame at each other for the violations.
Perthes, who has received death threats and calls to resign, said he is committed to staying in Port Sudan and overseeing the humanitarian effort taking place in the coastal city. He described those who threatened him as marginal “extremists” and said that there is a wide appreciation of UN efforts in Sudan.
UN envoy: Humanitarian deal between warring sides first step toward ceasefire in Sudan
https://arab.news/nndgt
UN envoy: Humanitarian deal between warring sides first step toward ceasefire in Sudan
- Rival parties have shown no sign they are ready to offer concessions to end fighting that erupted on April 15
- Mediators pushed the sides to sign the declaration of principles on civilian protections to reduce tensions
Trump says US will deal with Greenland ‘easy way’ or ‘hard way’
- Trump says controlling the mineral-rich island is crucial for US national security given the rising military activity of Russia and China in the Arctic
WASHINGTON, United States: US President Donald Trump on Friday again suggested the use of force to seize Greenland as he brushed aside Denmark’s sovereignty over the autonomous Arctic island.
“We are going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it or not,” Trump said at a White House meeting with oil executives looking to benefit in Venezuela, where the United States last week overthrew the president.
“I would like to make a deal, you know, the easy way. But if we don’t do it the easy way, we’re going to do it the hard way,” Trump said when asked of Greenland.
Trump says controlling the mineral-rich island is crucial for US national security given the rising military activity of Russia and China in the Arctic.
“We’re not going to have Russia or China occupy Greenland. That’s what they’re going to do if we don’t. So we’re going to be doing something with Greenland, either the nice way or the more difficult way.”
Both countries have increased military activity in the Arctic region in recent years, but neither has laid any claim to the vast icy island.
Denmark and other European allies have voiced shock at Trump’s threats to take control of Greenland, where the United States already has a military base.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has warned that an invasion of Greenland would end “everything,” meaning NATO and the post-World War II security structure.
Trump made light of the concerns of Denmark, a steadfast US ally that joined the United States in the controversial 2003 invasion of Iraq.
“I’m a fan of Denmark, too, I have to tell you. And you know, they’ve been very nice to me,” Trump said.
“But you know, the fact that they had a boat land there 500 years ago doesn’t mean that they own the land.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is due to meet next week with Denmark’s foreign minister and representatives from Greenland.
