Sudan's warring generals have agreed to send representatives for negotiations, potentially in Saudi Arabia, United Nations' top official in the country said.
If the talks come together, they would initially focus on establishing a “stable and reliable” cease-fire monitored by national and international observers, Volker Perthes told the Associated Press news agency on Monday.
He however warned there were still challenges in holding the negotiations.
A string of temporary truces over the past week has eased fighting only in some areas, but in others fierce battles have continued to drive civilians from their homes and push the country into disaster.
Humanitarian groups have been trying to restore the flow of help to a country where nearly a third of the population of 46 million relied on international aid even before the explosion of violence.
The U.N. food agency on Monday said it was resuming its operations in Sudan. It had temporarily suspended its activities after three of its team members were killed in the war-wrecked Darfur region early in the fighting.
The World Food Program will resume food distribution in four provinces — al-Qadaref, Gezira, Kassala and White Nile — working in areas where security permits, said Executive Director Cindy McCain said in a statement.
The numbers of those in need of help will “grow significantly as fighting continues,” she said.
“To best protect our necessary humanitarian workers and the people of Sudan, the fighting must stop.’’
On Sunday, the International Committee of the Red Cross flew in a planeload of medical supplies to bring some relief to hospitals overwhelmed by the mayhem.
The fighting has killed more than 500 people and wounded thousands more while an exodus of civilians from the country continued.
