Talks in Geneva Secure Safe Humanitarian Access to People in Need in Sudan

A handout image shows aid trucks with relief material for Sudan's Darfur region, at a location given as the border of Chad and Sudan, released on August 21, 2024. (UNHCRinSudan via X/Handout via Reuters)
A handout image shows aid trucks with relief material for Sudan's Darfur region, at a location given as the border of Chad and Sudan, released on August 21, 2024. (UNHCRinSudan via X/Handout via Reuters)
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Talks in Geneva Secure Safe Humanitarian Access to People in Need in Sudan

A handout image shows aid trucks with relief material for Sudan's Darfur region, at a location given as the border of Chad and Sudan, released on August 21, 2024. (UNHCRinSudan via X/Handout via Reuters)
A handout image shows aid trucks with relief material for Sudan's Darfur region, at a location given as the border of Chad and Sudan, released on August 21, 2024. (UNHCRinSudan via X/Handout via Reuters)

The Aligned for Advancing Lifesaving and Peace in Sudan (ALPS) Group secured on Saturday guarantees from the Sudanese warring parties to provide safe and unhindered humanitarian access through two key routes.

The routes are the Western border crossing in Darfur at Adre and the Dabbah Road with access through the North and West from Port Sudan.

Aaid trucks are on the road to provide famine relief in Zamzam Camp and other parts of Darfur, said the group that includes Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, United States, Egypt, Switzerland, the United Nations and African Union.

The ALPS Group had convened in Geneva for the past 10 days with the objective of taking concrete and immediate action to deal with the situation in Sudan.

“The Sudanese people have suffered 16 horrific months of war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) that has resulted in ten million people being forced to flee their homes, more than 25 million people plagued by acute hunger, and one million people facing starvation,” it said in a statement.

“Responding to the demand of the Sudanese people for greater action by the international community, the United States, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, African Union, and United Nations convened in Switzerland on August 14 with the objective of taking concrete and immediate action to alleviate the suffering of the Sudanese people, save lives, and achieve a lasting cessation of hostilities,” it added.

“Building upon the foundation of the Jeddah process, over the last 10 days, the ALPS Group secured the reopening and expansion of critical humanitarian access routes, received commitments to improve the protection of civilians, particularly women and children, and developed a framework to ensure compliance with the Jeddah Declaration and any future agreements between the warring parties,” it stressed.

“Using a hybrid negotiating model that combined in-person, proximity, and virtual diplomacy, the ALPS Group partnered with frontline humanitarian responders and directly engaged the RSF and SAF to open access for the delivery of emergency food, medicine, and services to millions of Sudanese in need.”

“These routes must remain open and safe so we can surge aid into Darfur and begin to turn the tide against famine. Food and starvation cannot be used as a weapon of war,” declared the statement.

“We continue to make progress toward opening an access route through the Sennar junction, and the United Nations is undertaking a feasibility study for routes across the country that can enable aid access.”

“Collectively, securing these routes would expand humanitarian access for nearly 20 million vulnerable Sudanese.”

“We call on all parties to ensure that this urgent flow of aid continues and accelerates. To that end, we also welcome the RSF acceptance of a streamlined notification system to facilitate humanitarian aid delivery, and encourage SAF to take action on similar proposals.”

“In the face of ongoing brutal violence and atrocities, including gross violations against women, it is critical that the two warring parties take immediate action toward the implementation of the Jeddah Declaration of Commitment to Protect the Civilians of Sudan, of May 11, 2023, in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions 2724 and 2736, adopted on March 8 and June 13, 2024, respectively, and the latest communiqué of the African Union Peace and Security Council dated June 21,” said the statement.

To that end, the ALPS Group also worked to advance the protection of civilians, consistent with obligations of the parties under international humanitarian and human rights law and the Jeddah commitments.

“We have urged both parties, and received the RSF's commitment, to issue command directives to all fighters throughout their ranks to refrain from violations, including violence against women or children, the use of starvation or checkpoints for exploitation, and attacks on humanitarian operations and essential services such as agricultural fields, farmers and operations related to the harvest.”

Additionally, the ALPS Group presented to both warring parties a proposal for a compliance mechanism to resolve disputes, receive complaints, and address problems arising in relation to implementation of commitments around the protection of civilians under existing agreements, including the Jeddah Declaration, and international humanitarian and human rights law.

“We and other partners stand ready to work with the parties to operationalize this mechanism. We appreciate the RSF decision to send a senior delegation to Switzerland to engage with the ALPS Group,” added the statement.

“Though we were in consistent communication with SAF virtually, we regret their decision not to be present, and we believe that limited our ability to make more substantial progress toward key issues, particularly a national cessation of hostilities.”

The ALPS Group remains open to both parties joining future rounds of talks to urgently relieve the suffering of the Sudanese.

“We remain committed to answering the call of the people of Sudan to pursue a national cessation of hostilities, secure humanitarian access to every state across the country, and negotiate an immediate cessation of hostilities in areas such as el-Fasher, Khartoum, and Sennar.”

“Out of dedication to the Sudanese people, the ALPS Group will continue to build on the results and momentum created over the last 10 days. We will continue to elevate and integrate the voices of women in the process and broader efforts to improve humanitarian access, protect civilians, and end the war,” said the statement.

“We call on the international community to honor and increase its pledges of financial support for the humanitarian response in Sudan and the region, including those made in Paris in April 2024.”

“We will continue to build on the foundation of the Jeddah Declaration, under the auspices of Saudi Arabia.”



Report Says Israeli Settlers Used Grazing to Grab Swathes of West Bank Land

20 July 2022, Israel, Barkan: Right-wing settlers march to build a settlement in the West Bank near Barkan. (dpa)
20 July 2022, Israel, Barkan: Right-wing settlers march to build a settlement in the West Bank near Barkan. (dpa)
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Report Says Israeli Settlers Used Grazing to Grab Swathes of West Bank Land

20 July 2022, Israel, Barkan: Right-wing settlers march to build a settlement in the West Bank near Barkan. (dpa)
20 July 2022, Israel, Barkan: Right-wing settlers march to build a settlement in the West Bank near Barkan. (dpa)

A report by Israeli settlement watchdogs says settlers have used grazing to seize control of 14 percent of the occupied West Bank through the establishment of shepherding outposts in recent years.

In their report, "The Bad Samaritan", Israeli NGOs Peace Now and Kerem Navot said that in the past three years, 70 percent of all land seized by settlers was "taken under the guise of grazing activities".

Settlers in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, use herding to establish a presence on agricultural lands used by Palestinian communities and gradually deny them access to these areas, according to the report.

To force Palestinians out, settlers resort to harassment, intimidation and violence, "with the backing of the Israeli government and military", the watchdogs said.

"Israeli authorities make living conditions very difficult, but settler violence is really the main trigger why people leave lately -- they have nothing to protect themselves", said Allegra Pacheco, director of the West Bank Protection Consortium, a group of international NGOs.

"People get very worried about their families and their safety", and have no recourse when settlers start occupying their lands, she told AFP.

Excluding Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, the West Bank is home to around 490,000 Israelis living in settlements and outposts considered illegal under international law.

Around three million Palestinians live in the West Bank.

On Friday, the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that "Israeli settlers injured 23 Palestinians in one week, mainly in Bedouin and herding communities".

That same week, between March 11 and 17, "two Palestinian families were displaced, and at least two houses, eight vehicles and 180 Palestinian-owned trees and saplings were vandalized" in incidents involving settlers.

More than 60 entire Palestinian shepherding communities throughout the West Bank have been expelled using such methods since 2022, the report added.

These communities are overwhelmingly in the West Bank's Area C, which under the Oslo Accords signed in the 1990s falls under full Israeli control.

In recent months, several Israeli far-right politicians including some in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government have suggested taking advantage of the friendly US administration under President Donald Trump to annex part or all of the West Bank in 2025.

"The systematic and violent displacement of Palestinians from hundreds of thousands of dunam of land in recent years has undoubtedly laid the groundwork to facilitate such ambitions", the new report said of annexation, using a traditional measure of land area equivalent to 1,000 square meters.