A US envoy said Monday that Sudan peace talks in Switzerland were looking for ways to open three humanitarian routes to get desperately needed food into the war-torn African state.
The key Adre crossing from Chad could open as soon as Tuesday and 100 trucks were waiting at the border, Tom Perriello, US special envoy for Sudan, told a media briefing.
“Our first priority is to look at how to open three roads that collectively would ensure that 20 million people who are currently cut off completely or largely from food and medicine would be able to get that relief,” the envoy said.
Perriello listed Adre among the three priority routes.
“Along with many, many humanitarian and diplomatic colleagues around the world, we are now on the precipice of Adre being open, with over 100 trucks ready to roll, as early as tomorrow,” he said.
The months-old closure of the crossing has become a major concern for aid agencies.
A humanitarian crisis has grown in Sudan since civil war erupted in April last year.
More than 25 million people – over half of Sudan’s population – face acute hunger, according to UN agencies.
Famine has been declared in the Zamzam displacement camp in Darfur.
The United Nations says it has trucks at the Chad border waiting to use Adre.
Perriello said negotiators were “actively talking” with the army under de facto ruler Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and his adversaries, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
The RSF has sent a delegation to the talks being held at a secret location in Switzerland but the army has refused to take part.
“The RSF delegation remains here, and we have met with them, and we have worked virtually through phones with the army to accelerate progress that saves lives for the Sudanese people,” the envoy told reporters.
Perriello said the negotiations had been “successful” and the United States, along with co-mediators Saudi Arabia and Switzerland, would maintain the effort.
The envoy said his team wanted to work on halting the hostilities but acknowledged that this was “much harder” without army representatives.
“We are going to continue to find all the ways that we can engage with both the RSF and the army to continue to get results,” he said.
“We’ve actually asked the heads of delegation twice now whether they want to wind up early, and they have been extremely clear that they do not, that they believe we are producing real results together.”
