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

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.”

The Israeli military has provided new details that changed its initial account of the killing of 15 emergency workers near the southern Gaza city of Rafah last month but said investigators were still examining the evidence.

The 15 paramedics and emergency responders were shot dead on March 23 and buried in a shallow grave where their bodies were found a week later by officials from the United Nations and the Palestinian Red Crescent. Another man is still missing.

The military initially said soldiers had opened fire on vehicles that approached their position "suspiciously" in the dark without lights or markings. It said they killed nine fighters from Hamas and Islamic Jihad who were travelling in Palestinian Red Crescent vehicles.

But video recovered from the mobile phone of one of the dead men and published by the Palestinian Red Crescent showed emergency workers in their uniforms and clearly marked ambulances and fire trucks, with their lights on, being fired on by soldiers.

The only known survivor of the incident, Palestinian Red Crescent paramedic Munther Abed, also said he had seen soldiers opening fire on clearly marked emergency response vehicles.

An Israeli military official said late on Saturday the investigators were examining the video and conclusions were expected to be presented to army commanders on Sunday.

Israeli media briefed by the military reported that troops had identified at least six of the 15 dead as members of the groups. However, the official declined to provide any evidence or detail of how the identifications were made, saying he did not want to share classified information.

"According to our information, there were terrorists there but this investigation is not over," he told reporters at the briefing late on Saturday.

The UN and the Palestinian Red Cross have demanded an independent inquiry into the killing of the paramedics.

Red Crescent officials have said 17 paramedics and emergency workers from the Red Crescent, the Civil Emergency service and the UN had been dispatched to respond to reports of injuries from Israeli air strikes.

Apart from Abed, who was detained for several hours before being released, another worker is still missing.

OPENED FIRE

The military official said initial findings from the investigation showed troops had opened fire on a vehicle at around 4 a.m., killing two members of the Hamas internal security forces, and taking another prisoner, who the official said had admitted under interrogation to being in Hamas.

As time passed, several vehicles passed along the road until, at around 6 a.m., he said troops received word from aerial surveillance that a suspicious group of vehicles was approaching.

"They feel this is another incident like what happened at 4 a.m. and they opened fire," the official said.

He said aerial surveillance footage showed the troops were at some distance when they opened fire, and he denied reports that the troops handcuffed at least some of the paramedics and shot them at close range.

"It's not from close. They opened fire from afar," he said. "There's no mistreatment of the people there."

He said the soldiers had approached the group they had shot, identifying at least some of them as fighters. However, he did not explain what evidence had prompted the assessment.

"And in their eyes, they had an encounter with terrorists, that is a successful encounter with terrorists."

He said the troops had informed the UN of the incident on the same day and initially covered the bodies with camouflage netting until they could be recovered. UN officials did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

"There was no incident where the Israeli army tried to cover up. On the contrary, they called the UN immediately."

Later, when the UN did not immediately come to take the bodies, the soldiers covered them with sand to stop animals from getting at them, the official said.

He said the vehicles were pushed out of the way by a heavy engineering vehicle to clear the road but he could not explain why the vehicles were crushed by the engineering vehicle and then buried.

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