UNITED NATIONS (AP) – The United Nations secretary-general on Thursday urged warring parties in Sudan to cease hostilities during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, saying the nearly year-long conflict has ended the country’s unity. “This could potentially destabilize the region on a dramatic scale.”
Sudan’s UN envoy said that General Abdel Fattah Burhan, the head of Sudan’s military who has been fighting rival commanders of the country’s militias for control of the country, welcomed the call for a Ramadan ceasefire. However, there was no immediate response from Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, commander of the militia Rapid Support Force.
UN official warns that Sudan faces the world’s biggest hunger crisis due to continuing conflict
UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ appeal comes ahead of a UN Security Council vote scheduled for Friday on a UK-drafted resolution calling for an “immediate cessation of hostilities ahead of the month of Ramadan.”
The resolution expresses “grave concern over the devastating and deteriorating humanitarian situation, including escalating violence and crisis-level food insecurity, particularly in Darfur.”
Residents evacuated from a surge in violent attacks squat on blankets and hastily erected tents in the village of Masteri in western Darfur, Sudan, on July 30, 2020. Militias and their allied militias fighting to seize power in Sudan have committed widespread ethnic killings. Rape committed during the occupation of large parts of western Darfur constitutes a war crime and crime against humanity, according to a new report to the United Nations Security Council obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday, February 29, 2024. It is said that there is a possibility.
Sudan was plunged into chaos in April last year when long-simmering tensions between the military and militia leaders erupted into urban fighting in the capital, Khartoum.
The fighting spread to other parts of the country, but took a different form in Sudan’s western Darfur region, where Arab-majority Rapid Assistance Forces carried out brutal attacks on African civilians. Thousands of people were killed.
Twenty years ago, Sudan’s vast western Darfur region became synonymous with genocide and war crimes committed by the notorious Janjaweed Arab militia, particularly against populations that identify as Central and East Africans.
Karim Khan, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, said in late January that there are grounds to believe that both sides in the current conflict are committing war crimes, crimes against humanity, or possible genocide in Darfur.
At a Security Council meeting on Sudan, President Guterres spoke of growing concerns about new military attacks and further escalation of fighting in the east, calls to arms for civilians in various states, and calls for civilians to take up arms in western Darfur and southern Kordofan. He pointed out the participation of armed groups in the fighting.
“All of these dangerous developments are adding fuel to the fire of further divisions in the country, deepening intra- and inter-communal tensions, and increasing ethnic violence,” Secretary-General Guterres said. “The cessation of hostilities during Ramadan will help stem suffering and lead the way to sustainable peace.”
Sudan’s Ambassador to the UN Al-Harith Mohamed said his government was “very satisfied” with the UN chief’s remarks and told the Security Council he had just heard from General Burhan. “We commend the Secretary-General’s appeal for a cessation of hostilities during the month of Ramadan,” the ambassador said.
“But he is thinking about how to do this,” Mohamed said, stressing that rapid support forces continued to carry out attacks. “All those who want to see that appeal translated into action…if they want to put forward a mechanism to do that, we welcome that.”
“First and foremost, it is within the capabilities of both sides to stop the fighting,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said when asked if there was a U.N. mechanism.
“I think everyone is willing and ready to help,” Dujarric told reporters. “The most important thing is that the person who pulls the trigger silences the weapon.”
As the conflict continues with no end in sight, Guterres warned that the humanitarian impact of the conflict is reaching “enormous proportions.”
Guterres said half of Sudan’s population (25 million people) needed life-saving aid, about 18 million people were “severely food insecure” and the United Nations had received reports of children dying from malnutrition. said.
Sudan also faces the world’s worst internal displacement crisis, with 6.3 million people fleeing their homes and remaining in the country seeking safety, he said. Civilian infrastructure has been destroyed and 70% of medical facilities in conflict areas are non-functional. And millions of children are out of school.
He said the United Nations had received reports of systematic sexual violence, including rape and gang rape, as well as kidnapping and human trafficking “for the purpose of sexual exploitation.”
Ramadan is expected to start around Sunday, depending on the sighting of a new moon, and Britain’s deputy UN ambassador James Kariuki said he expected a Security Council vote on a Ramadan ceasefire on Friday.
“Sudan’s military and emergency support forces are responsible for the dire situation in Sudan,” he told the council. “Artillery shelling and attacks from both sides in densely populated urban areas and across western Sudan continue to kill and terrorize civilians.”
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Mr Kariuki echoed the Secretary-General’s call for an immediate ceasefire during Ramadan, allowing the delivery of humanitarian aid from neighboring Chad to war-torn Darfur, and allowing both sides to make deliveries across the conflict line. asked the government to do so.
“The military leadership of the SAF (Sudanese Armed Forces) and RSF should not decide Sudan’s political future,” Kariuki said. “We call on them to make way for a civilian transitional government that fully respects the fundamental human rights of the Sudanese people.”
