GENEVA (AN) — Humanitarian aid aimed at helping some of the hundreds of thousands of people facing starvation and millions more lacking basic items will immediately begin flowing from Chad to Sudan's Darfur region.
What's new: U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres discussed the movement of humanitarian aid through Sudan's Western border crossing at Adre, Chad, with Sudan’s de facto ruler, army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, on Sunday.
"It was agreed to facilitate the movement of humanitarian supplies to enter the country," Guterres' office said. "They also agreed that in parallel the U.N. will work with the Sudanese authorities to put in place a simplified system for the expedited processing and delivery of humanitarian aid."
What's next: Tom Perriello, the U.S. special envoy for Sudan, said he welcomed this important announcement about the immediate resumption of lifesaving aid moving through Adre, Chad into Darfur. "With hundreds of thousands facing starvation, we must make every effort to accelerate and increase delivery of aid to those who most desperately need it in Sudan," he said. Along with seeking an end to the war, peace talk negotiators want to reopen all three humanitarian corridors: the Western border crossing at Adre; a southern access route through Sennar; and northern Dabar Road from Port Sudan.
What's important: The U.S. official had overseen peace talks on Sudan that ended on Friday and were held over 10 days in a Swiss ski resort, Villars-sur-Ollon, set among the Alps toward the eastern flank of Lake Geneva. The talks ended with agreements for the delivery of life-saving food, medicine and other humanitarian aid, but were unable to reach a cease-fire deal after failing to get both the warring sides to sit down at the negotiating table. The fighting between the RSF and SAF has killed thousands and driven about 10 million people from their homes in a war that WFP has warned could create the world’s largest hunger crisis.
Who's involved: The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, sent a delegation, but the Sudanese Armed Forces, or SAF, declined to attend due to the participation of the United Arab Emirates, which the military says is helping RSF. Burhan, head of the governing Transitional Sovereignty Council, said the talks aimed to “whitewash” the RSF and countries that support the paramilitary. The UAE was among the countries, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, and the United States, that participated in the discussions, along with the African Union and United Nations. It had been eight months since any direct talks were held. Peace talks held earlier in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain also failed to bring an end to the war.
What's happening now: More than 130 World Food Program trucks have been able to start crossing through Adre into Sudan for the first time since February, bringing sorghum, oil and rice to some 12,000 people at risk of famine in the Kereneik area of West Darfur. "This corridor is the easiest and the fastest for humanitarian aid to reach populations in critical need in Darfur,” said WFP's Sylvain Natural.
