Rhino: Agencies – The US Special Envoy for Sudan, Tom Brillo, confirmed that the group of countries and organizations participating in the negotiations in Geneva decided to stay in Geneva until next Sunday, 25 August 2024, to see what is happening on the ground, especially regarding the entry of aid through the Adre crossing.
‘I think in the two weeks, since I’ve been here talking to you, we have defied the odds with a diplomatic approach that defies definition because we have a crisis that defies conscience,’ the US diplomat said at a press conference held at noon today, Friday 23 August 2024, at the headquarters of the US Mission in Geneva.
‘Just two weeks ago you had 20 million people inside Sudan lacking access to basic humanitarian assistance, facing displacement and acute hunger, and more than a million people facing famine. That’s more than the population of Switzerland, Liberia and Singapore combined, all displaced by acute hunger.
‘We entered the negotiations with a unified sense of purpose, which was very clearly based on the demands of the Sudanese people to seek more action from the international community.
Brillo emphasized that their first focus was on three humanitarian access arteries, which together would open the way for the delivery of medicines, food and life-saving services to 20 million people in Sudan. The first is the western entry point via Adri, the second is from the north from Port Sudan via the road known as the ‘Dibba’ road, and the third is the southern access route through the Sennar junction.
The US special envoy noted that they have received approval from the armed forces, RSF and others in the region to open the Adri crossing. For the first time in four months, trucks moved across the border to areas where 500,000 women and children are facing starvation. ‘We received similar approval from the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces to open the Dibba crossing to expand access. ‘Together, we continue active negotiations with the parties on multiple potential routes through Sennar that would open the way to deliver aid to another eleven million Sudanese.
On the implementation of the Jeddah Declaration demanded by the Port Sudan government, Brillo said: ‘We have worked hard across very diverse organizations to look at a compliance mechanism that could work to implement the Jeddah Declaration and have presented it to the parties, and we are still a long way from getting that done.’
