Talks on the ongoing war in Sudan are scheduled to open in Switzerland on Wednesday, with discussion centring on humanitarian assistance for millions facing hunger and displacement amid the brutal conflict.
The US has invited both parties to the war to Switzerland for the talks. Where exactly they will begin on Wednesday remains secret for security reasons.
A power struggle between the army and paramilitary militias has been raging in the African country, which lies south of Egypt, since April 2023.
According to experts, famine is already raging in the North Darfur region, where hundreds of thousands have sought refuge. The UN is calling it the world’s largest refugee crisis and a humanitarian disaster.
Many regions of the country are inaccessible to humanitarian aid workers due to the war. The United Nations says that more than 25 million people are threatened by hunger.
The US has invited representatives of the army and militias, but whether they will participate remains uncertain. If they do not attend, technical experts will discuss how access for humanitarian organizations can be improved.
The fighting has displaced more than 10 million people in the country and others have fled across the borders.
According to the UN, both parties to the conflict are obstructing access for aid convoys.
Another problem is that the UN’s drive for donations, totalling $2.7 billion dollars for this year, has so far attracted one around a third of the required funding.
The German charity Welthungerhilfe is calling for humanitarian corridors in the country in view of the worsening famine.
“The world’s biggest humanitarian crisis is unfolding in Sudan,” the charity’s secretary general, Matthias Mogge, said ahead of the talks.
More than 25 million people – half of the population – are “in a critical food situation, and 755,000 are at acute risk of starvation,” he added.
