JOINT STATEMENT FROM THE ALPS GROUP ON PROGRESS IN ADDRESSING THE CRISIS IN SUDAN

The ALPS Group held another weekly virtual meeting on September 12 to coordinate efforts to expand emergency humanitarian access and protections for Sudanese civilians, of whom over 25 million are facing famine and acute hunger.

With increased options for humanitarian access, international donors and aid organizations are mobilizing hundreds of thousands of tons of additional humanitarian assistance for the people of Sudan, including food, medicine, and aid helping the most vulnerable, such as women and children.

This relief could save countless lives and alleviate suffering for millions of Sudanese.

While recent the commitments to humanitarian access made by the Transitional Sovereign Council, the Sudan Armed Forced (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are welcome, we ask them to effectively facilitate unhindered, safe and rapid access on key roads, including from Port Sudan through Shendi to Khartoum, as well as roads from Khartoum to El Obeid and to Kosti.

We also call on the HAC to swiftly conclude discussions with the humanitarian community on simplifying the notification system. 

There should also be public announcements and implementation of simplified notification systems by both parties to allow the UN and NGOs to execute safe cross-border and cross-line aid deliveries without delays.

There should be public announcements of notification systems by both parties to allow the UN to execute safe cross-border and cross-line assistance deliveries as needed without assistance having to wait for formal permissions to save lives.

The ALPS group is gravely concerned about increased fighting in El Fasher and the rest of Darfur and calls for an immediate pause to the fighting.

We call for humanitarian pauses in Sennar, Khartoum, and al-Jazira states that would allow aid to flow through and to these areas as well. We are prepared to work with all parties so that, together, we can alleviate the acute hunger and famine conditions the Sudanese people currently suffer.

To ensure the expedited delivery of humanitarian assistance and increased humanitarian presence, the ALPS Group urges the RSF and SAF to decree, and ensure the implementation of, all necessary steps for immediate airfield assessments and humanitarian flights into and within Sudan.

The ALPS Group calls on the SAF and RSF to hold perpetrators of war crimes and violations of international law, including international humanitarian law responsible for their actions.

The RSF issued a command directive to its troops to improve protection of civilians, but the world is still waiting to see it enforced, including on response to recent civilian deaths from shelling in Sennar state and El Fasher.

Similarly, the ALPS Group asks the SAF to issue a similar directive and take steps to end the aerial bombing of civilian targets and civilian infrastructure.

We call for progress towards discussing the compliance mechanism for the obligations of the parties to the Jeddah Declaration, proposed by the ALPS group.

This mechanism aims at preventing violations of those obligations by the parties.

We reaffirmed our dedication to ongoing consultations with Sudanese women as an integral component of the ALPS Group.

Inspired by the demands of the Sudanese people, the ALPS Group continues to pursue an urgently-needed cessation of hostilities for all of Sudan.