The unremitting violence in Sudan, raging for 18 months, is poised to intensify, worsening already alarming levels of human rights violations, food insecurity, and displacement, the Security Council heard at a high-level briefing on the situation in the country on Tuesday.
This comes as senior United Nations officials renewed their calls for an immediate ceasefire, humanitarian access, and renewed efforts towards a negotiated settlement.
Rosemary DiCarlo, Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, told the Council that over the last two weeks, the situation in the country has been marked by some of the most extreme violence since the start of the conflict. She described a wave of attacks perpetrated by the Rapid Support Forces in eastern Al-Jazirah State, in which a large number of civilians were killed, and even more lost their homes and were forced to flee.
“We are receiving reports of horrific violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, including sexual violence committed predominantly against women and girls,” she said.
The official condemned the Rapid Support Forces’ continued attacks against civilians, and the Sudanese Armed Forces’ indiscriminate air strikes in populated areas, including the Khartoum area.
“Let me stress that both warring parties bear responsibility for this violence,” she said, underlining the need for an immediate ceasefire and a negotiated political solution. “However, both the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces seem convinced they can prevail on the battlefield,” she stated, noting that, as the rainy season ends, both parties are escalating military operations, recruiting new fighters, and intensifying attacks.
“This is possible thanks to considerable external support, including a steady flow of weapons into the country,” she emphasized, adding: “To put it bluntly, certain purported allies of the parties are enabling the slaughter in Sudan. This is unconscionable, it is illegal and it must end.”
Commending the efforts of the African Union and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), among others, to restore an inclusive Sudanese political dialogue, she outlined the efforts of the Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General for Sudan, Ramtane Lamamra, to forge progress on the protection of civilians, spotlighting an upcoming round of “proximity talks” in Sudan and the region. Stressing the need to operationalize the recommendations in the Secretary-General’s recent report on the protection of civilians in Sudan, she said, “To that end, I welcome the efforts to advance a new resolution on this matter.”
Meanwhile, Niemat Ahmadi, Founder and President of Darfur Women Action Group, said she was speaking to the Council with agony and urgency while describing “scorched earth tactics” deployed by the Rapid Support Forces in several regions, including El Fasher and Al-Jazirah, with reports of mass killings, indiscriminate shelling of civilians and shocking reports that more than 130 women committed mass suicide as an escape from further sexual violence.
Citing warnings by experts of impending mass atrocities and the real risk of genocide in El Fasher, she drew attention to “serious shortcomings” in the Secretary-General’s recent report on civilian protection options in Sudan, in particular, its observation that peacekeeping deployment will not be successful without peace to keep.
“I beg to differ,” she emphasized, adding that UN civilian protection forces become necessary to create an enabling environment for peace, when warring parties are unwilling to do so. The support of oil-rich regional and international actors turned the Janjaweed, once on camels and horses, into uniformed militias equipped with advanced weaponry, she said, calling on the Council to authorize and deploy UN forces to protect civilians; pressure the warring parties to ensure humanitarian access; pursue accountability measures, including on the conflict’s enablers; impose targeted sanctions; and to expand the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court to include crimes committed across Sudan.