Sudan Army, Paramilitary RSF Commit to Facilitating Humanitarian Aid

The mediators expressed their regret that the two parties had not reached an agreement for a ceasefire. (AFP/Getty Images)
The mediators expressed their regret that the two parties had not reached an agreement for a ceasefire. (AFP/Getty Images)
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Sudan Army, Paramilitary RSF Commit to Facilitating Humanitarian Aid

The mediators expressed their regret that the two parties had not reached an agreement for a ceasefire. (AFP/Getty Images)
The mediators expressed their regret that the two parties had not reached an agreement for a ceasefire. (AFP/Getty Images)

The Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) will commit to facilitating humanitarian aid and implement trust-building measures, a joint statement by Saudi Arabia, the United States, and the regional African bloc Intergovernmental Authority on Development said on Tuesday.

The statement, carried by the Saudi state news agency (SPA), comes on the heels of a new round of talks between the warring parties that restarted in the Saudi Arabian Red Sea city of Jeddah last month.

The mediators expressed their regret that the two parties had not reached an agreement for a ceasefire, the statement said, and urged them "to put the interests of the Sudanese people first, put down their weapons, and engage in negotiations to end this conflict".



UN: More Than One Million Syrians Returned to Their Homes Since Assad’s Fall 

A boy looks out from inside a tent in al-Roj camp, Syria, on January 10, 2020. (Reuters)
A boy looks out from inside a tent in al-Roj camp, Syria, on January 10, 2020. (Reuters)
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UN: More Than One Million Syrians Returned to Their Homes Since Assad’s Fall 

A boy looks out from inside a tent in al-Roj camp, Syria, on January 10, 2020. (Reuters)
A boy looks out from inside a tent in al-Roj camp, Syria, on January 10, 2020. (Reuters)

More than one million people have returned to their homes in Syria after the overthrow of Bashar Al-Assad on Dec. 8, including 800,000 people displaced inside the country and 280,000 refugees who came back from abroad, the UN said on Tuesday.

“Since the fall of the regime in Syria, we estimate that 280,000 Syrian refugees and more than 800,000 people displaced inside the country have returned to their homes,” Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, wrote on the X social media platform.

“Early recovery efforts must be bolder and faster, though otherwise people will leave again: this is now urgent!” he said.

Last January, the UN's high commissioner for refugees urged the international community to back Syria's reconstruction efforts to facilitate the return of millions of refugees.

“Lift the sanctions, open up space for reconstruction. If we don't do it now at the beginning of the transition, we waste a lot of time,” Grandi told a press conference in Ankara, after returning from a trip in Lebanon and Syria.

At a meeting in mid-February, some 20 countries, including Arab nations, Türkiye, Britain, France, Germany, Canada and Japan agreed at the close of a conference in Paris to “work together to ensure the success of the transition in a process led by Syria.”

The meeting's final statement also pledged support for Syria's new authorities in the fight against “all forms of terrorism and extremism.”

Meanwhile, AFP reported on Tuesday that displaced people are returning to their neighborhoods in Homs, where rebels first took up arms to fight Assad's crackdown on protests in 2011, only to find them in ruins.

In Homs, the Syrian military had besieged and bombarded opposition areas such as Baba Amr, where US journalist Marie Colvin was killed in a bombing in 2012.

“The house is burned down, there are no windows, no electricity,” said Duaa Turki at her dilapidated home in Khaldiyeh neighborhood.

“We removed the rubble, laid a carpet” and moved in, said the 30-year-old mother of four.

“Despite the destruction, we're happy to be back. This is our neighborhood and our land.”

Duaa’s husband spends his days looking for a job, she said, while they hope humanitarian workers begin distributing aid to help the family survive.