Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
The Popular Resistance Committees: We call on all international institutions to take urgent action and uphold their responsibilities by restoring and immediately enforcing effective mechanisms for the distribution of humanitarian aid.
The Popular Resistance Committees: The latest Zio-American crime against Gaza’s starving civilians constitutes a war crime, for which the US administration bears full and direct responsibility.
Gaza Media Office: Bloody spectacle shows that these zones have become collective death traps rather than aid distribution zones.
Gaza Media Office: Dozens of citizens are still surrounded under constant fire in the vicinity of the "aid station."
Gaza Media Office: As soon as citizens arrived, occupation and Americans opened direct fire on them.
Gaza Media Office: Occupation, in complicity with the US company, called on citizens to move toward Wadi Gaza Bridge, claiming that aid would be distributed.
Gaza Government Media Office: Occupation set a bloody trap at bridge of Wadi Gaza, luring thousands of starved civilians, and opened fire on them.
Al Mayadeen's correspondent in South Lebanon: Israeli drone drops sonic grenade in town of Ramiyah.
Al Mayadeen's correspondent in South Lebanon: Israeli drone strike targets vehicle in town of Beit Lif.
The Government Media Office in Gaza: The occupation’s latest crime is further evidence of its ongoing implementation of genocide through starvation.

UN aid chief in Jeddah for Sudan ceasefire talks amid ongoing clashes

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: Agencies
  • 7 May 2023 18:37
  • 1 Shares
4 Min Read

The Sudanese army spokesperson says the talks were on how a truce "can be correctly implemented to serve the humanitarian side."

  • x
  • UN aid chief in Riyadh for Sudan ceasefire talks as clashes continue
    Martin Griffiths, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, speaks during an interview with Reuters in Kabul, Afghanistan, on January 25, 2023 (Reuters)

UN top humanitarian official Martin Griffiths arrived in Saudi Arabia Sunday for ceasefire talks between Sudan's warring generals, as gun battles and airstrikes flared in the Sudanese capital at the start of a fourth week of fighting.

Multiple truce deals have been declared and quickly violated since battles erupted between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on April 15.

Fierce combat since then has killed hundreds of people, most of them civilians, wounded thousands, and sparked multiple warnings of a potential "catastrophic" humanitarian crisis. More than 100,000 people have already fled the country.

In embattled Khartoum, fighter jets have bombed positions as terrified residents stay barricaded indoors trying to cope with dire shortages of water, food, medicines, and other staples.

Across the Red Sea in the Saudi city of Jeddah, talks were underway aiming for a ceasefire that could push efforts to bring humanitarian aid to the besieged population.

The generals leading the warring parties have said little about the talks being held in Jeddah since Saturday.

Sudanese army Spokesperson Brigadier General Nabil Abdalla explained that the talks were on how a truce "can be correctly implemented to serve the humanitarian side," while Mohammad Hamdan Dagalo, who heads the RSF, only said on Twitter that he welcomed the technical discussions.

Griffiths was in Jeddah on Sunday "to engage in humanitarian issues related to Sudan," spokesperson Eri Kaneko said. 

The UN's top humanitarian official was last week in Port Sudan, where he said he had been informed by the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) that six trucks bringing aid to the Darfur region had been "looted en route" on Wednesday, "despite assurances of safety and security."

He called for security guarantees "clearly given by militaries, to protect humanitarian systems to deliver."

Riyadh and Washington have supported the "pre-negotiation talks" and urged the warring parties to "get actively involved."

Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit expressed on Sunday his support for the "indirect negotiations" in order to prevent "an escalation of the current conflict" into a prolonged war "that divides Sudan into warring regions."

Related News

Trump eyes Gulf billions, but war on Gaza blocking normalization: FT

US drops 'Israel' normalization demand in Saudi nuclear talks: Reuters

At the same meeting, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry warned of "a slide into a worse and more dangerous security situation for Sudan, its people, neighbouring countries and the region."

Since their 2021 coup, army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and his deputy Dagalo have fallen out in a bitter power struggle, lastly over a plan to integrate the RSF into the army.

At least 700 people have been killed in the fighting so far, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project. The Sudanese Doctors Union said 479 of the dead were civilians. 

Hundreds of thousands have been displaced either internally or to neighboring countries, while the UN has warned of a deepening humanitarian crisis and the threat of famine.

Read more: UN admits failure to stop Sudan war, clashes ongoing despite truce

Medical facilities shelled during clashes

Numerous medical facilities have been shelled in the fighting that broke out on April 15 between the Sudanese army and the RSF.

The battles have left only 16% of hospitals in Khartoum fully functional, according to the United Nations, putting countless lives at risk.

The UN estimates that there are "219,000 pregnant women in Khartoum, including 24,000 women expected to give birth in the coming weeks."

As the war rages, much of Sudan's medical resources have been diverted to tending the war-wounded with urgent care.

Even before the war broke out, mothers and children faced grave dangers in the country.

Almost three out of every thousand women die in childbirth in Sudan, eight times higher than the figure in neighboring Egypt, according to the UN children's fund, UNICEF.

It said that 56 out of every 1,000 Sudanese children die before reaching the age of five.

Last year, the UN estimated that one in three Sudanese needed to walk more than an hour to get medical care.

Read more: Clashes ongoing in Sudan as food insecurity looms

  • Riyadh
  • Martin Griffiths
  • United Nations
  • RSF
  • Sudan clashes
  • Sudan
  • Rapid Support Forces
  • Khartoum
  • Sudanese army
  • Saudi Arabia

Most Read

President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrive to a news conference in the East Room of the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025, in Washington (AP)

Rift widens: Trump, Netanyahu clash in heated phone call over Iran

  • Politics
  • 26 May 2025
US judges quietly consider private security amid Trump tensions

US judges quietly consider private security amid Trump pressures

  • US & Canada
  • 25 May 2025
An Israeli army vehicle moves in the Gaza Strip as seen from southern occupied Palestine, Thursday, May 29, 2025 (AP)

Hamas rejects Witkoff ceasefire plan, says alters terms

  • Politics
  • 29 May 2025
Spokesperson for the Yemeni Armed Forces, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, announces a new operation against Ben Gurion Airport on May 29, 2025 (Yemeni Military Media)

Yemen announces successful hypersonic missile strike on Ben Gurion

  • Politics
  • 30 May 2025

Coverage

All
War on Gaza

Read Next

All
MIT bans class president who gave pro-Palestine speech
US & Canada

MIT bans class president over pro-Palestine speech

Arab ministers condemn Israel 'ban' on planned West Bank visit
Politics

Arab ministers condemn Israeli ban on planned West Bank visit

Major General Hu Gangfeng, Vice President, National Defense University, People's Liberation Army, China, leaves after a panel discussion during the 22nd Shangri-La Dialogue summit in Singapore, Saturday, May 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)
Politics

China blasts Hegseth, calls US top 'troublemaker' in Asia-Pacific

US activists demand shutdown of Musk's 'dirty' supercomputer: Reports
Technology

US activists demand shutdown of Musk's 'dirty' supercomputer: NBC News

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS