The UN Security Council on Thursday condemned an assault by Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces on the city of El Fasher in North Darfur, warning of a “heightened risk of large-scale atrocities, including ethnically motivated atrocities”.
UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher criticised the council for not acting sooner. For the past two years, the country has been torn apart by a war between the military and the paramilitary RSF that has killed more than 40,000 people and left more than 14 million displaced.
“Can anyone here say we did not know this was coming?” he said. “We cannot hear the screams, but as we sit here today the horror is continuing. Women and girls are being raped, people are being mutilated and killed with utter impunity.”
In a statement, council members expressed grave concern over the escalating violence and urged all sides to protect civilians and respect international law. They also called for accountability for those responsible for violations.
Mr Fletcher said El Fasher, already ravaged by catastrophic levels of human suffering, has “descended into an even darker hell”, since the entry of RSF fighters into the Sudanese city.
He pointed out that Sudan’s children face particularly severe risks and are “forcibly recruited to kill each other”.
The RSF’s seizure of El Fasher has fuelled fears that Africa’s third-largest country could once again fragment, with the paramilitary force controlling Darfur while the army retains power in Khartoum and the nation’s northern and eastern regions. Almost 15 years ago, oil-rich South Sudan broke away after decades of civil war.
Martha Pobee, UN Assistant Secretary General, informed the council that Ramtane Lamamra, the personal envoy of the UN Secretary General for Sudan, has invited both warring parties to separately enter into technical talks with the UN, focusing on de-escalation and the protection of civilians.
“He has received encouraging indications from both parties of their willingness to commit to this process,” Ms Pobee said. Mr Lamamra is co-ordinating his efforts with members of the Quad initiative, comprising Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and the US.
Mr Fletcher implored the council and member states to take immediate and robust action to halt atrocities against civilians. “Stop arming this violence and insist that stopping this conflict is more important than any narrow political or commercial interests,” he said.
Sudan’s UN envoy Mohamed Ibrahim Elbahi accused the UAE of playing “the worst role in Sudan through equipping the RSF with armaments and resources aiming to continue the war”, he said.
“How can we accept that such a country speaks of peace in this chamber while it fills the airspace of Sudan with fighter jets? It is working for a full fragmentation of Sudan so that it can enjoy our wealth."
The UAE’s permanent representative to the UN, Mohamed Abushahab, dismissed the accusations as baseless. “It is an absurdity that one of the warring parties can carry on politicising this forum by disseminating false and baseless allegations,” he said. “This is a party that is directly responsible for the devastation of its own country.
“This is the same command that waged war on Darfur 20 years ago, the very same command that shelters men indicted for genocide and that now claims to defend and mourn the civilians it once sought to destroy."
Mr Abushahab added: “From for more than two years, my country, the United Arab Emirates, regardless of the lies repeated here, has been clear both the [Sudanese army] and the RSF has disqualified themselves from shaping Sudan's future.”
In a statement, an RSF spokesman on Thursday said the group had “arrested a number of individuals accused of violations that occurred during the liberation of the city of El Fasher”, including a man known as Abu Lu’lu’ah, and said legal committees had begun investigations.
“These measures are being taken to prevent any violations that infringe upon human dignity, contravene moral values, or conflict with international conventions, foremost among them the Geneva Conventions,” the statement read.
On Friday, members of the bipartisan US Senate Foreign Relations Comittee described both warring parties as "monsters" who had comitted atrocities against civilians and "pursued a zero-sum war at any cost".
They said that the US should consider the designation of the RSF as a foreign terrorist organisation.
