Sudan's RSF Agrees with UN on Steps to Ease Aid Delivery

Sudanese farmers plow a field on the outskirts of Sudan's eastern city of Gedaref on July 18, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
Sudanese farmers plow a field on the outskirts of Sudan's eastern city of Gedaref on July 18, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
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Sudan's RSF Agrees with UN on Steps to Ease Aid Delivery

Sudanese farmers plow a field on the outskirts of Sudan's eastern city of Gedaref on July 18, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
Sudanese farmers plow a field on the outskirts of Sudan's eastern city of Gedaref on July 18, 2024. (Photo by AFP)

Sudan's Rapid Support Forces agreed with the United Nations on some steps to ease aid delivery in areas under its control, a member of the RSF told Reuters on Thursday.

The Sudanese army has not reached any understandings on aid delivers with the RSF, he added. It is unclear if these steps could be implemented without the army's participation.

Meanwhile, a key supply route into Sudan's Darfur region, deemed at risk of famine by a global monitor, has been cut off due to heavy rains, a World Food Program official told Reuters on Thursday.
The UN agency has described Sudan as the world's biggest hunger crisis, with the western Darfur region most at risk as Sudan's 15-month civil war that has displaced millions and sparked ethnic violence grinds on.
WFP's Country Director Eddie Rowe said thousands of tons of aid are stranded at the Tina crossing on the Chad border, prompting the body to reopen talks with the army-aligned government to open an alternative, all-weather crossing further south called Adre.
"You have these huge rivers. As I speak now, our convoy, which is supposed to move over 2000 metric tons is stranded," he told Reuters from Port Sudan. Asked on the status of the talks that resumed this week, he said: "It's 50/50.”
WFP is now seeking clearances to move a large 70-truck convoy via a little-used, over 1000 kilometer route from Port Sudan to Darfur which Rowe said will involve crossing the battle lines of both the Sudan Armed Forces, the Rapid Support Forces and various militias.
He added that this mostly desert route has worked in the past but outside of the rainy season and that the last journey took weeks and was "fraught with a lot of challenges.”
In a separate interview, Mona Rishmawi, a member of the UN Fact-Finding Mission on Sudan, told Reuters that she had met Darfur refugees in Chad who told her stories of escaping with virtually no water and eating grass along the route. "There's no doubt that people are starving," she said.



UN Calls for Independent Probe into Civilians Harmed Trying to Get Food in Gaza

 Palestinians carry bags filled with food and humanitarian aid provided by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US-backed organization approved by Israel, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians carry bags filled with food and humanitarian aid provided by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US-backed organization approved by Israel, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP)
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UN Calls for Independent Probe into Civilians Harmed Trying to Get Food in Gaza

 Palestinians carry bags filled with food and humanitarian aid provided by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US-backed organization approved by Israel, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians carry bags filled with food and humanitarian aid provided by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US-backed organization approved by Israel, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP)

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres on Tuesday slammed as "unacceptable" the deaths of Palestinians seeking food aid in Gaza, a spokesman said, calling the loss of life in the territory "unthinkable".

"The Secretary-General continues to call for an immediate and independent investigation into these events and for the perpetrators to be held to account," UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters.

"We are witnessing unthinkable loss of life in Gaza (and) the secretary-general condemns the loss of lives and injuries of Palestinians seeking aid," he said. "It is unacceptable civilians are risking and in several instances losing their lives just trying to get food."

At least 27 Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded by Israeli fire near a food distribution site in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, local health authorities said, in the third day of chaos and bloodshed to affect the aid operation.

A spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross told Reuters that its field hospital in Rafah received 184 casualties, adding that 19 of those were declared dead upon arrival, and eight died of their wounds shortly after.

The US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation launched its first distribution sites last week in an effort to alleviate widespread hunger amongst Gaza's war-battered population, most of whom have had to abandon their homes to flee fighting.

The Foundation's aid plan, which bypasses traditional aid groups, has come under fierce criticism from the United Nations and established charities which say it does not follow humanitarian principles.

The private group, which is endorsed by Israel, said it distributed 21 truckloads of food early on Tuesday and that the aid operation was "conducted safely and without incident within the site".

However, there have been reports of repeated killings near Rafah as crowds gather to get desperately needed supplies.

On Sunday, Palestinian and international officials reported that at least 31 people were killed and dozens more injured. On Monday, three more Palestinians were reportedly killed by Israeli fire.

The Israeli military has denied targeting civilians gathering for aid and called reports of deaths during Sunday’s distribution "fabrications" by Hamas.