Global Courant 2023-04-16 13:48:20
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Following reports of armed fighting in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, UN Secretary-General António Guterres and the head of the UN mission in the country issued statements on Saturday strongly condemning the violence, while other senior officials expressed concern.
Senior officials were responding Saturday morning to the outbreak of armed clashes between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in large parts of the capital Khartoum and other areas outside the capital.
According to media reports, the RSF claimed that it had taken control of Khartoum International Airport, Merowe Airport, al-Obeid Airport and the Presidential Palace.
The RSF, an independent Sudanese military force, evolved from the Janjaweed militia, which previously operated in the Darfur region of the country. The organization is involved in talks aimed at a transition from military rule in place since the 2021 military coup to civilian rule.
‘Stop hostilities immediately’
a rack attributable to the Secretary-General’s spokesman took note of the UN Chief’s appeal to the leaders of the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces to “immediately cease hostilities, restore calm and initiate dialogue to resolve the current crisis”, and to Member States in the region to support efforts to restore order and return to the path of transition to civilian rule.
In a Tweet posted later in the day, the secretary general’s spokesman wrote that Mr Guterres had spoken with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt and Moussa Faki Mahamat, the president of the African Union, about how to de-escalate the situation.
The spokesman added that the secretary-general also spoke to the leaders of the two opposing military parties – Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah Al Burhan of the Sudanese Army and Lieutenant General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo of the RSF – calling for an immediate halt of the violence and a return to dialogue and offering its good offices, in close coordination with the ongoing efforts to restore security and complete the ongoing political process.
The integration of the RSF into the armed forces has been one of the points of discussion, as part of a UN-backed political agreement reached in February, after months of negotiations.
However in one Security Council briefing on March 20, Volker Perthes, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Sudan and head of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS), warned that tensions between the Sudanese military and the RSF had risen in recent weeks, and called for de-escalation.
In his rack regarding the current fighting, Mr. Perthes contacted both sides and asked them to immediately cease fighting, to ensure the safety of the Sudanese people and save the country from further violence.
More violence will only make it worse
Mr Guterres also expressed concern about the “devastating” impact any further escalation of fighting would have on civilians, further exacerbating the already precarious humanitarian situation in the country.
Similar fears were expressed on Saturday by Martin Griffiths, the UN emergency coordinator. In a TweetMr Griffiths said more violence would only make things worse for the nearly 16 million people, about a third of the population, who need humanitarian aid.
A update on the humanitarian situation in Sudan, issued on 13 April by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), noted that humanitarian needs across Sudan are at an all-time high, with conflict as one of the top four risks, alongside natural disasters, disease outbreaks and economic decline.
Volker Türk, the UN rights chief, expressing alarm at the unfolding situation, Tweet on Saturday that the people of Sudan “deserve better”. Mr Türk wrote that there is an urgent need for a “voice of reason” to stop the violence and “return to the earlier promising path to peace and civilian transition”.
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