Sudan’s warring parties have agreed to meet in United Nations-mediated talks on enabling desperately needed aid delivery in their conflict-torn country, the UN aid chief has said.
Martin Griffiths told reporters on Wednesday in Geneva that he had been in contact with the heads of the two factions in Sudan’s 10-month-long civil war about convening “empowered representatives of the two militaries” to discuss aid access.
He said he wanted “to get them to follow up the commitments of the so-called Jeddah Declaration”, which the two sides signed last May, agreeing to spare civilians and civilian infrastructure and to let in badly needed aid.
Griffiths warned the lack of access remained “very, very considerable”.
While the Jeddah conference was organised by Saudi Arabia and the United States, Griffiths said “this time it’s the UN that will be the mediator”.
“I had positive responses from both sides,” he said, adding that he was “still waiting for a confirmation on when and where”, but that Switzerland had been suggested as a venue.
He said he hoped the meeting could take place “face-to-face”, but said plans were underway to organise a virtual call next week “as a first step”.
The brutal conflict that erupted in April last year between Sudan’s army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed thousands.
The death toll includes between 10,000 and 15,000 in a single city in the western Darfur region, according to UN experts.
It has also sparked a humanitarian collapse, leaving over half of the country’s population, around 25 million people, in need of assistance and protection.
The UN on Wednesday appealed for $4.1 billion to provide aid to civilians in the country and those who have fled as refugees, warning the conflict had fuelled “epic suffering”.