The Albany Gazette - UN aid chief hails talks with Sudan army leader

Since April 2023, the war between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed tens of thousands and displaced nearly 12 million, creating one of the world's largest humanitarian crises.

"I very much welcome the constructive conversations I had with President Burhan... aimed at ensuring that we can continue to operate everywhere across Sudan to deliver in a neutral, independent and impartial way for all those who are in such dire need of international support," Fletcher said, in a video released by Sudan's Transitional Sovereignty Council.

The UN official's comments came after he met with Burhan in Port Sudan, the de facto capital since the war began.

Fletcher arrived in Sudan on Tuesday for a week-long mission, pledging "to stop the atrocities, back peace efforts, uphold the UN charter, and push for our teams to get the access and funding they need to save lives across the battle lines."

Burhan meanwhile affirmed "Sudan's keenness to cooperate with the United Nations and its various agencies," according to the army-backed council.

Fletcher also met top Egyptian and Sudanese diplomats and discussed ways of scaling up humanitarian aid, according to a statement from Cairo's foreign ministry.

- Fighting persists -

The talks come two weeks after the RSF captured El-Fasher, the last army stronghold in western Darfur.

Reports of mass killings, sexual violence, abductions and looting have since emerged.

Burhan had previously vowed his forces would "take revenge" and fight "until this land is purified".

Last Thursday, the RSF said it had agreed to a truce proposal put forward by the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt.

But attacks have persisted.

On the day the paramilitaries agreed to the truce, the RSF shelled a hospital in the besieged city of Dilling in South Kordofan, killing five, while explosions were heard in the army-controlled capital Khartoum the following day.

The UN migration agency said nearly 39,000 people have fled fighting in several towns across the oil-rich Kordofan region since El-Fasher fell.

On Monday, the RSF deployed forces to the strategic city of Babanusa in West Kordofan, threatening to "fight until the last moment."

In North Kordofan, residents told AFP they fear an imminent assault on El-Obeid, a key cross roads between Darfur and the national capital Khartoum.

Sudan's army-aligned government has yet to respond to the truce proposal.

- 'Grinding to a halt' -

Since El-Fasher's fall, nearly 90,000 people have fled, while tens of thousands remain trapped in "famine-like conditions as hospitals, markets and water systems collapse," according to the UN migration agency.

Last week, the Rome-based Integrated Food Security Phase Classification declared famine in the city which has been under RSF siege for about 18 months.

Amy Pope, Director General of the International Organisation for Migration, warned on Tuesday that without safe access and urgent funding, humanitarian operations "risk grinding to a halt at the very moment communities need support the most".

UN Women's Anna Mutavati said on Tuesday that women fleeing El-Fasher "have endured starvation... displacement, rape and bombardment", with pregnant women giving birth "in the streets as the last remaining maternity hospitals were looted and destroyed".

El-Fasher's fall has given the RSF control over all five state capitals in Darfur.

Analysts say Sudan is now effectively divided with the RSF dominating all of Darfur and parts of the south while the army holds most of Sudan's north, east and centre.

(Y.Harris--TAG)