US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly affirmed Tuesday that their countries are putting pressure on the two parties involved in Sudan to end the violence and enable aid delivery.

In a joint press conference, Blinken “thanked James for the United Kingdom’s crucial cooperation in getting citizens of both of our countries out of Sudan.” “These joint efforts allowed UK aircraft to evacuate more than 2,000 people, including US citizens from dangerous and unpredictable conditions and to the evacuation of hundreds of additional US citizens through Port Sudan.

All told, we supported the evacuation of more than 1,300 Americans from Sudan in collaboration with our partners,” Blinken said.

“Together now, we are pressing the warring parties in Sudan to put down their guns and allow lifesaving aid to reach the Sudanese people even as we meet here.

We have diplomats from the United States and Saudi Arabia deeply engaged in talks in Jeddah working in close consultation with counterparts from the UK,” he added.

“The United Arab Emirates, the African Union and other multilateral partners, the collective aim that we have is to lay the foundation for further negotiations between the parties that we hope can lead to a permanent cessation of hostilities.

But in the first instance we are working in Jeddah to extend the cease fire and get agreement on the provision of humanitarian assistance to the people of Sudan,” Blinken noted.

“We continue to engage directly with Sudanese civilian leaders, the Sudanese civil society with the goal of putting their nation back on the track to civilian democratic governance.

That’s the goal that we share and a goal that we will not give up on,” Blinken added.

Source: Kuwait News Agency