UN chief Guterres warns of conflicts escalating from Sudan | Tellwell Newspaper
Tellwell Newspaper, Abuja – Nigeria:
UN supremo Antonio Guterres on Monday painted a grim picture of Sudan’s future as the breeding ground for further conflict and strife in Africa during a conference to raise money for humanitarian relief efforts in the country.
“The scale and speed of Sudan’s descent into death and destruction is unprecedented,” Guterres told the aid conference in Geneva.
The secretary-general added: “Without strong international support, Sudan could quickly become a locus of lawlessness, radiating insecurity across the region.”
Organisers of the international donors’ conference for Sudan said they also wanted to find ways to encourage a more efficient ceasefire between the warring factions.
“The situation in Darfur and Khartoum is catastrophic,” Guterres added. “Fighting is raging with people attacked in their homes and on the street.”
Guterres concluded that the only way to end the crisis was through a return to peace and the restoration of civilian rule via the transition to democracy.
The pledging event was co-organised by the UN’s humanitarian and refugee agencies, alongside Egypt, Germany, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, plus the African Union and the European Union.
Donors are expected to announce financial commitments to address the humanitarian crisis and reiterate the need for the factions in Sudan to adhere to their obligations under International Humanitarian Law, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a statement.
To date, this year’s revised Humanitarian Response Plan for Sudan has received less than 16 percent of the 2.5 billion euros required, while the Regional Refugee Response Plan for around 450 million euros is just 17 percent funded.
The UN says more than half the population of 49 million needs humanitarian assistance within Sudan, requiring some 2.7 billion euros in funding until the end of the year.
It has also appealed for nearly 500 million euros for the refugee crisis caused by the conflict.
Relative “calm” in war-torn Khartoum
The conference began one day into a 72-hour ceasefire which is aimed at allowing the delivery of desperately needed aid.
The ceasefire was announced by Saudi Arabia and the United States, with the agreement of representatives of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
It came into force throughout Sudan at 6am on Sunday. Mediators said the two sides had agreed to refrain from attacks.
Witnesses in Khartoum told news agencies that the situation was calm.
The clashes had intensified before both sides pledged to respect the truce on Saturday.
The army, led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, has since 15 April been battling paramilitary forces commanded by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.
Multiple truces have been agreed and broken in the war, which has claimed the lives of more than 2,000 people and driven another two million from their homes, including at least 528,000 who fled abroad.
“We want a full ceasefire,” a resident of Khartoum’s twin city of Omdurman told the French news agency AFP.
“A truce is not sufficient for us to return to our lives,” he added. “They may stop fighting, but the RSF will not leave the homes they occupy.”
Atrocities in Darfur
The past few weeks have witnessed intense fighting rock the western region of Darfur.
The United States reported that as many as 1,100 people have been killed in the West Darfur state capital of El Geneina alone.
The US attributes the atrocities in Darfur primarily to the RSF, and adds that alleged rights violations were an ominous reminder of the region’s previous genocide.
A years-long war in Darfur began in 2003 with rebels fighting the then-strongman Omar al-Bashir. In reaction, Bashir unleashed the Janjaweed militia, whose actions led to international charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The RSF are said to have their origins in the Janjaweed.
The Doctors Without Borders (MSF) charity also issued an urgent call for more beds and staff across the border in Chad, where it said more than 600 patients recently arrived.
The International Organization for Migration says at least 149,000 people have fled from Darfur into Chad, among the roughly 2.2 million uprooted by the fighting.
RFI/News Agencies
