Sudan Teeters on the Edge: International Inaction Sparks Looming Catastrophe
As Sudan’s army commander, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, addressed the UN General Assembly in New York, the Sudanese army launched airstrikes and artillery fire on Khartoum on Thursday, coinciding with its “intense” fight against it. Rapid support forces in the capital, a military source and witnesses told AFP.
In an interview with Al-Hura TV, author and researcher on Sudanese affairs, Justin Lynch said, “Sudan on the Brink of Catastrophe: International Failure and International Failure.”
On Wednesday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed “deep concern about the escalating conflict in Sudan”.
Falling into disaster
Al-Burhan’s statement came after the army launched an offensive with heavy artillery fire and airstrikes to retake areas in the Sudanese capital.
“A nation sliding towards disaster,” is how Lynch described what is happening in Sudan in his interview with Al-Hura TV, criticizing the weak response of the international community and the diplomatic movement towards the Sudanese crisis, emphasizing that the movements that occurred two decades ago are greater.
Lynch believes that what we are seeing in Sudan “reveals a systemic failure of the United Nations and a lack of political will by the Secretary-General and his agencies.”
High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi warned on Wednesday that the situation in Sudan was dire.
He said, “If people don’t die of bullets, they die of hunger. If they survive, they face disease, floods, or threats of sexual violence and other horrific violations, which would make headlines if they happened elsewhere. In daily newspapers, though That doesn’t happen here.” “.
Sudan is among the files at the top of the agenda for this week’s UN General Assembly meeting, and the deteriorating humanitarian situation and refugee crisis have dominated discussions regarding Sudan.
The United States announced $424 million in new humanitarian aid to Sudan
On Wednesday, the United States announced $424 million in new aid for displaced Sudanese during a high-level meeting at the United Nations on the ongoing bloody war between the military and rapid aid forces.
The country was engulfed in a devastating war last year, which has so far caused thousands of deaths and displaced more than ten million people, more than two million of whom have taken refuge in other countries, while around 26 million are Sudanese, representing half. According to the United Nations, the population suffers from severe food insecurity.
In addition, more than ten million people, or about 20 percent of the population, were displaced by the war or forced to seek refuge in neighboring countries. According to the United Nations, the conflict has created a humanitarian crisis that is one of the worst in modern history.
Nations fuel conflict
In his speech before the UN General Assembly, al-Burhan expressed his regret that the Rapid Assistance Force “finds support and support from the countries in the region who provide them with money and mercenaries to gain political and economic gains in flagrant disregard of international law. And will .”
Al-Burhan did not name the countries, but his government has consistently accused the United Arab Emirates of supplying weapons to aid forces via Chad, in clear violation of an arms embargo imposed on Sudan.
Author Lynch noted that “the UAE has been providing aid to the Rapid Support Force without sufficient international pressure to prevent it” and called on the UN to “take a pause” to assess the situation as “two warring parties”. responsible for what is happening in Sudan.”
Speaking to Al-Hura TV, he said that “there is a real fear of directly accusing the UAE of being the main arms supporter of the Rapid Support Force from the United Nations or Western countries, and there are other groups that support the Sudanese army, because of its There are reports of Egyptian and Iranian support for each.”
Sudan’s army has launched a “large-scale” operation against the Rapid Support Force
Sudan’s army launched a military offensive on Thursday and quickly moved across several bridges linking the capital’s three cities to target aid forces, in a prominent development of fighting between the two sides that began more than a year ago. and plunged the country into a major political, humanitarian and economic crisis.
Last year, UN experts concluded that the UAE’s allegations were “credible” and diplomats said the United States, on the back of its support for the rapid aid force, had publicly put pressure on the UAE.
Since the war began, intense fighting has taken place in densely populated areas and both sides have been accused of war crimes, including indiscriminate bombing of residential areas.
“The people of Sudan have been living in hell for 17 months and the suffering is increasing,” said Joyce Masua, acting UN emergency relief coordinator.
El Fasher is blocked
Thousands of women flock to shelters without clean water. Archive
El Fasher is one of five state capitals in the Darfur region and the only one that has not fallen to the Rapid Aid Forces, which have been fighting Sudanese armed forces since April 2023.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, on Thursday warned of intense fighting for control of the Sudanese town of El Fasher, warning of ethnically-motivated violence if it falls to the rapid aid forces besieging it.
“The war must stop immediately. Enough means enough,” Turk said in a statement.
Food crisis in Sudan
Darfur, an area the size of France and home to about a quarter of Sudan’s population, suffered ethnic violence perpetrated by Janjaweed militias, which later quickly formed the nucleus of aid forces.
The Rapid Support Force stormed El Fasher, a city of nearly two million, last weekend after a months-long siege.
“Based on bitter past experience, if El Fasher falls, there is a high risk of racially motivated abuses, including summary executions and sexual violence by Rapid Support Forces and militias,” Turk said.
Rebellion, killings and famine…situation “getting dire” in El Fasher
In one of the “world’s ugliest wars”, Sudan’s conflict is entering an advanced phase of brutal warfare as two generals vie for control of the country.
He specifically expressed his concern about the fate of the residents of Abu Shouk and Zamzam camps for displaced persons.
He said, “People in these two camps face the risk of reprisal attacks based on their tribal identity, whether real or perceived, because they come from the same community from which the leaders of the Sudanese armed movement hail from. The forces come from.”
The statement indicated that the United Nations had documented “appalling patterns of ethnically motivated violations, particularly against the Masalit tribe” after taking control of El Jenina and Erdamta in West Darfur state last year.
In light of the escalating battle to control El Fashar, Turk said his office had recorded “an increase in civilian deaths from bombings and airstrikes on both sides”.
The UN Human Rights Office also reported that it documented reports of summary executions, acts of gender-based violence and the abduction of at least five women and several youths in El Fasher.
Turk “called on the international community through the Security Council to take necessary and effective action to protect civilians in Sudan, especially those groups that are particularly vulnerable to the risk of targeted violence, and to ensure that all parties respect international law.” “
In mid-April 2023, fighting broke out in Sudan between the army led by Al-Burhan, the head of the Sovereignty Council and the country’s de facto ruler, and the Rapid Support Force, known as Hemedati, led by his ally and former deputy Dagalo.