UN pressures Sudan’s warring generals after aid looted
- UN fears humanitarian catastrophe as aid chief seeks in-person meetings with Sudan’s warring parties
- Six trucks of humanitarian supplies ransacked as fighting undermined efforts to firm up a truce
The United Nations pressed Sudan’s warring factions to guarantee safe passage of humanitarian aid after six trucks were looted and air strikes in the capital undermined a supposed truce.
UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said he hoped to have face-to-face meetings with Sudan’s warring parties within two to three days to secure guarantees from them for aid convoys to deliver relief supplies.
The meeting could take place in Khartoum, the capital, or another location, Griffiths told Reuters in a phone interview from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, following a visit to Port Sudan intended to plan a large-scale relief operation.
“It’s important to me that we meet physically, face-to-face to discuss this, because we need it to be a public, accountable moment,” he said on Wednesday.
The UN has warned that fighting between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which erupted on April 15, risks causing a humanitarian catastrophe that could spill into other countries. Sudan said on Tuesday that 550 people had died, with another 4,926 wounded, so far in the conflict.
On Thursday, fierce fighting could be heard in central Khartoum as the army tried to push back RSF from areas around the presidential palace and army headquarters, with a lasting ceasefire appearing elusive.