The Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have agreed to ensure safe access for humanitarian workers to areas affected by the ongoing conflict through two main routes. A final statement issued on Friday, following talks in Switzerland aimed at mitigating the impact of the war that has been raging for about 16 months, confirmed that the Sudanese army and the RSF agreed to provide two safe corridors for humanitarian aid.
A statement from the mediating countries revealed that they had secured “guarantees from both parties to the conflict to provide safe and unobstructed access through two main arteries: the western border via the Adre crossing in the Darfur region, and the Al-Daba route, which allows access to the north and west from Port Sudan.”
The final statement from the talks indicated that “aid trucks are on their way to deliver assistance to combat hunger in the Zamzam camp and other parts of Darfur,” emphasizing the necessity of keeping the roads open and secure to facilitate the delivery of aid to Darfur and to start reversing the dire situation of hunger.
The mediators also stressed in their statement the need to “continue making progress” toward opening a third safe corridor for aid through Sennar in the southeastern part of the country.
The talks, which began last week in Geneva, were sponsored by the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Switzerland. Representatives from the RSF attended, while the army was absent, with mediators only communicating with its representatives via telephone. The discussions, attended by experts and members of civil society, aimed to achieve a ceasefire, ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid, and implement agreements that both parties could accept.
Fighting broke out in mid-April 2023 between the army, led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who is also the head of the Sovereignty Council, and the RSF, led by his former ally and deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti. The war has expanded to cover large areas of the country, leading to one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.
A report supported by the United Nations in June indicated that the conflict has forced more than a fifth of the population to flee their homes, while nearly 25 million people, more than half of Sudan’s population, are facing “acute food insecurity.”
