United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for “decisive action” on Monday to end the 18-month-long civil war in Sudan, where millions face starvation and have been displaced from their homes.
“We have consistently appealed to both sides to end the fighting and come to the negotiating table,” he told a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Sudan. “But instead of lowering tensions, they are escalating military action.”
The warring parties are led by rival generals, Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) chief Abdel-Fattah al Burhan, and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) chief Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. The former allies turned rivals have been tearing the country apart in a power struggle.
The U.N. chief said “suffering is growing by the day” as he called for a cessation of hostilities, protection of civilians, scaled up humanitarian assistance, and an immediate end to the flow of weapons and ammunition to both parties.
He also expressed deep concern about the situation in the capital of North Darfur, El Fasher, where fighting has escalated since mid-April between the SAF, which is trying to hold the city, and the RSF, which is poised to take it. El Fasher is the only capital in the Darfur region that has not yet fallen to the paramilitary group.
“I am horrified by the Rapid Support Forces’ continued attacks against civilians in El Fasher and surrounding areas, which include displacement sites where famine conditions have been confirmed,” Guterres said.
The United Nations and others fear that a full-scale battle for El Fasher, where there are some 1.5 million civilians, could unleash atrocities similar to the genocide carried out by Arab Janjaweed fighters against African Zaghawa, Masalit, Fur and other non-Arab ethnic groups in Darfur in the early 2000s. Janjaweed fighters make up elements of today's RSF.
From October 20 to 25, the RSF carried out major attacks in villages across eastern Al Jazriah state. The paramilitary reportedly killed more than 120 civilians, shooting indiscriminately and raping women and girls, looting markets and homes, and burning down farms. The United Nations says nearly 47,000 people have fled the area in the past week.
“And I am also horrified by reports of attacks against civilians perpetrated by forces affiliated with the Sudanese Armed Forces in Khartoum, and by continuing mass civilian casualties due to apparently indiscriminate airstrikes in populated areas,” Guterres added, saying all perpetrators of serious crimes must be held accountable.
In response to calls from some quarters for an impartial force to protect civilians on the ground, Guterres said conditions do not presently exist for a U.N. peacekeeping force to successfully deploy.
Humanitarian catastrophe
Eleven million people have been displaced and half of Sudan’s population, an estimated 25 million people, are struggling with crisis level food insecurity. Famine was confirmed in August in Sudan’s Darfur region. At least 14 other areas of Sudan are considered at risk of famine in the coming months. Meanwhile, disease, including cholera, is spreading.
Sudan’s envoy said the government has begun allowing more aid in, reopening the critical Adre border crossing from Chad in August for an initial three months, as well as opening nine other crossings and seven airports. But Ambassador Al-Harith Idriss Al-Harith Mohamed reiterated SAF concerns about the RSF using Adre to smuggle in both arms and mercenaries and signaled that the government may not renew Adre’s opening when it expires on Nov. 15.
“The United Nations needs to cooperate with the Humanitarian Aid Commission to review the situation every three months and to consider the security risks,” he said, adding that “thousands” of mercenaries from Africa and the Sahel region had entered the country through the crossing.
“The border crossing at Adre is really a threat to national security,” Mohamed added.
Security Council members expressed support for the U.N. secretary-general’s personal envoy on Sudan, Ramtane Lamamra, who was present at Monday’s meeting and briefed council members afterwards in a closed session.
Council members called for an end to the fighting and increased efforts toward a political solution, as well as better cooperation from the parties to facilitate scaled-up aid distribution. Council members also condemned ongoing attacks on civilians and welcomed the renewal last month of their arms embargo on Darfur.
U.S. envoy Linda Thomas-Greenfield urged council members to use “the tools at its disposal” to impose a cost on spoilers.
“And so, we must all give more and do more,” she said. “To pressure the belligerents and their external backers to end the violence, protect civilians, and let life-saving aid flow. To ensure accountability for those who have committed atrocities and other abuses. And to put Sudan back on the path to democracy, freedom, and hope.”
