Sudan’s armed forces agree to allow aid, but no ceasefire, US says
Sudan’s warring factions failed to agree on a ceasefire, but signed a pledge to allow humanitarian aid deliveries and some services for residents battered by nearly four weeks of intense fightingtwo senior US government officials said Thursday.
The deal was brokered after six days by diplomats from the United States and Saudi Arabia talks in Jeddah, fell short of the negotiators’ initial goal of reaching a ceasefire. It was instead cast as a “statement of commitment to protect the citizens of Sudan.” The goals of the pact include delivering humanitarian aid, restoring essential services, withdrawing combatants from hospitals and clinics, and allowing residents to safely bury the dead.
The northeastern African nation of Sudan, with a population of 48 million, has been torn apart ever since The conflict broke out on April 15 between the forces of two rival generals, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhanwhich controls the Sudanese army, and Lieutenant General Mohamed Hamdanwho leads the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
The violence has plunged Sudan into a full-blown humanitarian crisis, leaving millions of people without water, food, electricity or health care. Aid agencies have reported that their warehouses have been looted and their workers killed, forcing many groups to suspend operations.
At least 600 people have been killed and more than 5,000 others injured in the conflict, according to the Sudanese Ministry of Health; the true death toll is likely higher. More than 700,000 people are internally displaced and more than 160,000 fled to neighboring countries, many of which already host large refugee populations and facing serious economic difficulties.
A US State Department official, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations, said talks are expected to begin Friday on a ceasefire to implement the “declaration of commitment” the Americans made on Thursday. have announced. The aim is to build on such early steps towards a final cessation of hostilities and an eventual restoration of the Sudanese civilian government – an aspiration that has eluded Sudan as the two now warring generals refused to share or hand over power to citizens.
The official said the title of the agreement was requested by the warring parties to show their commitment to protecting civilians even as they carry out massacres in Sudan.
Several ceasefires have already been agreed by both parties. None of them were respected, though some fought less for a time, allow foreigners and displacing nearly a million Sudanese civilians.
After the first shots rang out in the capital Khartoum, fighting quickly spread across the country, with particularly intense violence in the western region of Darfur and last week in the city of El-Obeid in southern Central Sudan.
The fighting has taken place in cities such as Khartoum in densely populated areas, with both sides deploying machine guns, bazookas, rockets and, in the case of the military, fighter jets. Officers in the paramilitary forces took up defensive positions in neighborhoods and hospitals, according to residents, with the military retaliating by firing on them.
The United Nations’ highest human rights body held an emergency session in Geneva on Thursday to draw attention to the killings, injuries and other abuses of civilians. The head of that body, Volker Turk, accused both sides of violating humanitarian law.
As fighting has intensified, hospitals, laboratories and medical staff already have working in appalling conditions and without suppliesincreasingly come under fire.
Both sides have repeatedly agreed to and broken ceasefires negotiated by foreign officials. These included a 72-hour ceasefire mediated by the United States in late April and a week-long ceasefire announced by South Sudan this month.
Abdi Latif Dahir contributed reporting from Nairobi.