Hemedti, Hamdok Sign Addis Ababa Declaration in Hope of Ending Sudan War 

RSF leader Hemedti and former PM Hamdok sign the Addis Ababa Declaration on Tuesday. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
RSF leader Hemedti and former PM Hamdok sign the Addis Ababa Declaration on Tuesday. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Hemedti, Hamdok Sign Addis Ababa Declaration in Hope of Ending Sudan War 

RSF leader Hemedti and former PM Hamdok sign the Addis Ababa Declaration on Tuesday. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
RSF leader Hemedti and former PM Hamdok sign the Addis Ababa Declaration on Tuesday. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) said on Tuesday it was open to an immediate, unconditional ceasefire through talks with the Sudanese army as it signed a declaration with the Taqadum civilian coalition and invited the army to do the same.

A nine-month war in Sudan, which now faces the world's largest displacement crisis, has devastated the country's infrastructure and prompted warnings of famine.

Attempts to end the conflict through negotiations, led by the United States and Saudi Arabia, have so far come to nothing and previous agreements to protect civilians have gone unheeded.

By signing the so-called Addis Ababa Declaration, which is intended to serve as the basis for further negotiations and a political settlement, the RSF has made its clearest commitment to ending the war so far.

"If the army came with this same document I would sign it immediately," RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo said of the declaration, which also included commitments to return millions of displaced people to their homes, create safe passages and include civilians in peace talks.

But with the RSF, which is accused by the US of crimes against humanity, gaining an upper hand in recent weeks, it is unclear to what extent Dagalo will implement the declaration's commitments. He apologized on Tuesday for violations and has said rogue actors will be dealt with.

Meanwhile, artillery fire between the two sides in the capital Khartoum has intensified in recent days.

It was not immediately clear whether the army, much of which is hostile to Sudan's pro-democracy movement and accuses it of being allied with the RSF, would welcome the declaration.

Dagalo, who is known as Hemedti, denied any such alliance.

"We invited the leadership of the armed forces. We expect, we hope they will respond to our invitation positively," Taqadum coalition leader and former Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok said.

Hamdok was ousted by the RSF and the army in a joint coup in October 2021.

While Hemedti and army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan have accepted an invitation by regional body IGAD to a meeting, this has yet to materialize, with Hemedti citing issues on his side.

The war was sparked by a dispute between the two forces, which took power in 2019 after ousting Omar al-Bashir, over their integration, which the new declaration calls for.

"There is no way Sudan, I think, stays as a peaceful country if we have this multiplicity of armies. So the aim is to have one army," Hamdok told Reuters.



Over 100 Patients to Be Evacuated from Gaza, WHO Says

 A youth salvages items from the rubble of a building destroyed in Israeli strikes in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on November 5, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A youth salvages items from the rubble of a building destroyed in Israeli strikes in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on November 5, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
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Over 100 Patients to Be Evacuated from Gaza, WHO Says

 A youth salvages items from the rubble of a building destroyed in Israeli strikes in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on November 5, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A youth salvages items from the rubble of a building destroyed in Israeli strikes in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on November 5, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)

More than 100 patients including children will be transferred out of the Gaza Strip on Wednesday in a rare medical evacuation from the Palestinian enclave during the Israel-Hamas war, a World Health Organization official said on Tuesday.

The WHO says fewer than 300 patients have been evacuated from Gaza since early May, when Israel expanded its military offensive southwards and took over the southern Rafah Crossing with Egypt, which had been used for medical transfers.

Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, said the patients, including children with trauma injuries and chronic diseases, would depart in a large convoy via the Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel.

Under arrangements made by the WHO, the patients will then fly to the United Arab Emirates from Ramon Airport in southern Israel, and some will travel on to Romania, he said.

"These are ad hoc measures. What we have requested repeatedly is a sustained medevac (medical evacuation) outside of Gaza," Peeperkorn told a press conference.

Asked whether Israel had approved the transfer, he said he was hopeful it would be facilitated by Israeli authorities.

He said more than 12,000 people were awaiting transfer, adding: "We cannot continue the way we do now."

COGAT, the Israeli military agency responsible for Palestinian affairs, says it actively facilitates the departure of seriously ill or injured patients, adding that the scope of such evacuations was determined by the capacity of organizations and countries to receive them.

As of last week, it said 10 groups of patients had been evacuated through Israel and it was willing to coordinate more.

Peeperkorn was part of a WHO convoy that on Nov. 3 provided some relief for the busy al-Awda and Kamal Adwan hospitals in northern Gaza which he said were barely operational because of medical and staff shortages.

"For al-Awda we are very concerned because the hospital needs urgent fuel and medical supplies, otherwise it might become non-functional over the coming week," he said of the hospital in Jabalia, just north of Gaza City.

Israel accuses Hamas fighters of hiding among civilians, including in hospitals, in the war that began after the deadly Hamas attack on southern Israeli communities on Oct. 7, 2023.

In a night-time raid on the Kamal Adwan Hospital last month, an Israeli military official said around 100 Hamas fighters were captured, some posing as medical staff, along with weapons. Hamas rejected the accusations.