Saturday, October 28, 2023

UN Chief Urges Sudanese Leaders to Stop Violence

Date:

Antonio Guterres, the United Nations chief, has condemned the recent outbreak of violence in Sudan and has called on the leaders of the warring sides to immediately cease hostilities and engage in dialogue. The fighting between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group has been ongoing for three days, resulting in the deaths of around 100 civilians, according to doctors. There are fears that the death toll may be higher. Both sides have claimed advances in strategic areas, but there is no information on the number of combatants killed. The fighting has forced residents to stay in their homes as they suffer electricity outages and water shortages. Hospitals have been struck by shelling, and incidents of looting have been reported.

Guterres made the comments on Monday during the Forum on Financing for Development in New York. He said that he had spoken with the two rival leaders and urged them to restore calm, even though both al-Burhan and Dagalo have expressed no desire to hold talks. “The situation has already led to horrendous loss of life, including many civilians,” the UN secretary general said. “Any further escalation could be devastating for the country and the region.” Guterres urged all those with influence over the situation to use it in the cause of peace and to support efforts to end the violence, restore order, and return to the path of transition.

The violence has once again interrupted Sudan’s fragile transition towards democracy following the removal of longtime ruler Omar al-Bashir in 2019. Guterres said that “the humanitarian situation in Sudan was already precarious and is now catastrophic” and reaffirmed the UN’s “full support” for the efforts of people in the country “to restore the democratic transition and build a peaceful, secure future”. The UN Security Council was due to hold a closed-doors meeting to discuss the situation in Sudan later on Monday.

Alyona Synenko of the International Committee of the Red Cross said that the fighting was overwhelming hospitals and that the situation for civilians was getting “worse and worse”. “The priority right now is to get access for healthcare workers, such as first responders, to be able to provide urgent care for those who are wounded,” Synenko told Al Jazeera. She added that fighting was taking place near heavily populated civilian neighbourhoods and infrastructure. “If this essential infrastructure gets damaged, the consequences for this urban population are going to be very high,” Synenko said.

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