The United States welcomed Sudan's sovereign council's announcement Thursday (Aug. 15) allowing the use of the Adre border crossing with Chad for three months, while continuing efforts to bring both sides of Sudan's warring military factions to the negotiating table.
The opening of the Adre border crossing is a long-awaited move by aid organizations aimed at delivering humanitarian aid to famine-stricken areas in the war-torn Darfur region. The country is facing one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.
We “welcome this news regarding the border crossing with Chad,” State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel told VOA in a briefing Thursday. “We continue to call on the SAF (Sudan Armed Forces) and the RSF (Rapid Support Forces) to facilitate unfettered humanitarian access through all available channels.”
The United States has invited leaders from both warring factions to Geneva, Switzerland, for talks aimed at negotiating a potential ceasefire to end the 16-month-old civil war.
The SAF had rejected the talks days earlier, while the RSF delegation, despite being in Switzerland, was not present at the open session that took place on Wednesday.
“We remain very focused on getting both parties in Sudan back to the table and reaching a meaningful agreement about laying down their weapons and doing the right thing for the Sudanese people,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters Thursday.
“You certainly need both militaries to be part of” talks on ending the violence, Patel told reporters on Thursday.
Diplomats from the African Union, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates and the United Nations attended the US-mediated talks, which opened on Wednesday.
“Day 2 of our diplomatic talks on Sudan is underway. We continue our hard work with international partners to save lives and ensure we achieve real results under the Jeddah Process and implement the Jeddah Declaration,” US Special Envoy for Sudan Tom Perriello wrote on the X platform.
The Jeddah Declaration, reached in May 2023, called for full access to aid by land and air for all communities regardless of who controls the territory.
More than a year of fighting between the SAF and RSF forces has displaced nearly 10 million people across the Horn of Africa country and left 26 million facing crisis-level hunger.
“Sudan’s medical system is at a critical juncture. Hospitals designed to serve tens of thousands of people are overwhelmed by more than half a million refugees, while aid pledged by the international community remains largely undelivered,” Adil Al-Mahi, the Sudan director of humanitarian organization MedGlobal, told VOA on Thursday. (about/after)
