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.



Türkiye Says Hamas Would be More Open to Deal Seeking Lasting Peace with Israel

Palestinians inspect the damage caused by an Israeli strike in Khan Younis, Gaza, on Tuesday. (AP)
Palestinians inspect the damage caused by an Israeli strike in Khan Younis, Gaza, on Tuesday. (AP)
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Türkiye Says Hamas Would be More Open to Deal Seeking Lasting Peace with Israel

Palestinians inspect the damage caused by an Israeli strike in Khan Younis, Gaza, on Tuesday. (AP)
Palestinians inspect the damage caused by an Israeli strike in Khan Younis, Gaza, on Tuesday. (AP)

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Sunday that talks with Palestinian militant group Hamas in recent days had shown the group would be more open to an agreement that goes beyond a ceasefire in Gaza and aims for a lasting solution to the crisis with Israel.

On April 19, Fidan and Türkiye's intelligence chief, Ibrahim Kalin, held talks with Hamas officials in Ankara to discuss the latest efforts for a ceasefire and the situation in Gaza, Reuters reported.

Speaking in Doha, Fidan said those talks showed Hamas would be more willing to sign a deal that also addresses the issue of occupied Palestinian territories and other issues.

He also noted that the crisis could be turned into an opportunity to implement the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.