GENEVA: Sudan’s paramilitaries have agreed to cooperate on humanitarian deliveries, following the Sudanese government’s decision to open a key border crossing with Chad, countries staging talks in Switzerland said Saturday.
War has raged since April 2023 between the Sudanese army under the country’s de facto ruler Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
The brutal conflict has triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
The United States is staging ceasefire and aid talks, which began at an undisclosed location in Switzerland on Wednesday.
While an RSF delegation has come to Switzerland, the Sudanese armed forces (SAF) are unhappy with the format and are not participating.
The talks are co-hosted by Saudi Arabia and Switzerland, with the African Union, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and the United Nations acting as a steering group.
In a joint statement, the five countries, the UN and the AU welcomed the decision to open the crossing from Chad into North Darfur for the coming three months.
“We also welcome the RSF’s commitment to cooperate with humanitarian deliveries, notably through the crucial Dabbah route to Darfur and Kordofan, and to protect humanitarian personnel in their work,” they said.
“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.
“The parties should immediately communicate and coordinate with humanitarian partners to efficiently operationalize these corridors with full and unhindered access.”
The statement also called on the international community and humanitarian organizations to “seize this moment” to move aid and help save the lives of the most vulnerable.
The fighting has forced one in five people to flee their homes, while tens of thousands have died.
More than 25 million across the country — more than half its population — face acute hunger. Famine has been declared in a Darfur displacement camp.
The closure of the Adre crossing has been a longstanding concern for aid groups struggling to get food and supplies into Sudan’s Darfur region.
Sudan’s RSF to ‘cooperate’ on aid: Swiss talks
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Sudan’s RSF to ‘cooperate’ on aid: Swiss talks
- “We also welcome the RSF’s commitment to cooperate with humanitarian deliveries, notably through the crucial Dabbah route to Darfur and Kordofan,” they said
- “These constructive decisions by both parties will enable the entry of aid needed to stop the famine”
Israel army issues new evacuation warnings in Lebanon
JERUSALEM: The Israeli military issued new evacuation orders for dozens of locations in Lebanon on Tuesday, including a warning for residents in two southern Beirut neighborhoods to stay away from several buildings ahead of imminent military action.
“Urgent warning to the residents of Lebanon, specifically in the villages which names are shown. For your safety you must evacuate your homes immediately,” said a statement by the military’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee on Telegram, which listed 50 locations.
Many of the locations were across the south of Lebanon, which Israel regularly targets with the aim of hitting Hezbollah infrastructure.
“You are located near Hezbollah facilities and interests, against which the IDF will operate in the near future,” he told the residents of southern Beirut neighborhoods Ghobeiry and Haret Hreik in another evacuation warning.
Lebanon’s government on Monday took the unprecedented step of banning Hezbollah’s military and security activity, prompting the Iran-backed group to lash out at the decision.
Hezbollah is represented in both the government and parliament, and the move came hours after it announced it had launched rockets and drones toward Israel early Monday to avenge the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli attacks.
Israel bombarded Beirut’s southern suburbs and dozens of villages in south Lebanon on Monday in response, vowing to make the group pay a “heavy price.”
The Lebanese health ministry said the strikes killed at least 31 people and wounded at least 149.
