ALBAWABA - UN Undersecretary-General Rosemary DiCarlo told the UN Security Council that the horrific war in Sudan is fueled by weapons from foreign supporters who continue to flout sanctions aimed at helping end the conflict.
In her speech, DiCarlo painted a bleak picture of the war's consequences: over 14,000 dead, tens of thousands injured, a coming famine with 25 million people in need of life-saving aid, and over 8.6 million forced to evacuate their homes.
Mohamed Ibn Chambas, chair of the African Union's Sudan panel and high representative for its Silence the Guns in Africa campaign, described external meddling as "a major factor compounding both the efforts to negotiate a ceasefire and to stop the war".
"As a matter of fact, external support in terms of supply of war materiel and other needs has been the main reason why this war has lasted so long," Chambas said. "It is the elephant in the room".
Sudan slid into turmoil in mid-April 2023, when long-simmering tensions between its military, led by Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary, commanded by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, flared into street fights in the capital, Khartoum. Fighting has expanded across the country, particularly in metropolitan areas and the western Darfur region.
Dagalo, Rapid Support Forces (RSF) commander and former right hand of al-Burhan, has allegedly received help from Russia's Wagner mercenary group. According to a recent UN assessment, the RSF has gained backing from Arab allied countries as well as new military supply lines through Chad, Libya, and South Sudan.
UN humanitarian office’s director of operations, Edem Wosornu, said that militants affiliated with the RSF have attacked and burned villages west of El Fasher area on April 13.
"the violence poses an extreme and immediate danger to the 800,000 civilians who reside in El Fasher, and it risks triggering further violence in other parts of Darfur — where more than 9 million people are in dire need of humanitarian assistance," Wosornu warned.
She added: "Since then, there have been continuing reports of clashes in the eastern and northern parts of the city, resulting in more than 36,000 people displaced,".
DiCarlo urged further efforts to bring peace, stating that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' personal envoy for Sudan, Ramtane Lamamra, has proposed hosting a meeting with African and Arab organizations, as well as key countries, "to develop a comprehensive mediation and peacemaking strategy".
