A senior United Nations official warned Wednesday that "immediate action" is needed to stop fighting in El Fasher, the capital of Sudan's North Darfur State, where hundreds of thousands of civilians are at risk. Sudan's brutal war has now lasted 17 months, with no end in sight to the humanitarian catastrophe it has caused.
"We urge members of the Security Council to employ their collective leverage to help protect the population caught in the crossfire," Martha Pobee, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Africa, told Council members.
Fighting for El Fasher has been ongoing since May this year. On September 12, a major battle broke out between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which advanced on the North Darfur capital from several directions, and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), which are positioned inside the city.
El Fasher is the only state capital in the Darfur region that has not yet fallen to the rebel paramilitaries. Civilians inside the large city, including hundreds of thousands displaced from other parts of Sudan, have been under siege for months with little outside assistance.
Pobee urged that the possibility of local cease-fires be explored as the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, including more than 700,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) in and around El Fasher, are under immediate threat.
"Prior to the deterioration of the situation in El Fasher, a local cease-fire protected the city's population for close to a year," she said. "A return to such an arrangement in El Fasher and similar short-term solutions in other locations must continue to be pursued."
Sudan is experiencing the world's largest humanitarian crisis due to the war between two rival generals, which began on April 15, 2023. More than 10 million people have fled their homes in search of safety, and last month international monitors confirmed famine in North Darfur.
According to the United Nations, 26 million people are at crisis levels of hunger across the country, with nearly 1.7 million people in North Darfur facing acute food insecurity. There are 13 other areas identified at risk of famine across Sudan, mostly in Darfur, Kordofan, Khartoum and Al Jazira.
“This brutal war has now lasted for 17 months, and there is no end in sight for this catastrophe,” said Joyce Msuya, Acting UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, who also briefed the Security Council Wednesday.
“Ten months ago, we warned the Council of the catastrophic consequences of an attack on El Fasher: a city of almost one million people, swelled with hundreds of thousands more seeking shelter after fleeing violence elsewhere.”
Msuya noted that since April 2023, UN officials have briefed the Council on the troubling developments in El Fasher at no fewer than six Council meetings. In June, the 15-nation Security Council adopted a resolution calling for "an immediate halt to the fighting and for de-escalation in and around El Fasher," but it has been totally ignored.
“Regrettably, these calls have not been heeded and the humanitarian situation continues steadily to deteriorate. Since the end of last week, large-scale fighting in and around El Fasher has escalated,” she said, noting that “shelling and aerial bombardment have been constant, and heavy.”
“Civilians, especially women and children, have been hit. Civilian sites and infrastructure – including hospitals and internally displaced persons’ camps – have been hit. […] And our concern is mounting as we receive reports of intense shelling of central and western parts of El Fasher and deployment of additional forces,” Msuya added.
During a press conference on Wednesday, UN Secretary-General AntĂłnio Guterres expressed his frustration with the intransigence of Sudan's warring generals.
"I mean, the truth is that you have two generals, and you have two groups, one army and one paramilitary institution, that are fighting each other, without any consideration for the needs and the dramatic impacts of their people," he said.
"The level of hunger is spreading terribly in Sudan. The number of people killed and maimed is increasing dramatically. And as a matter of fact, all this is done with total impunity."
On Tuesday, US President Joe Biden said in a statement that both sides must pull back their forces, facilitate unhindered humanitarian access and re-engage in negotiations to end the war.
The United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Nations and other partners have been pushing for peace for months. While they have succeeded in opening some humanitarian routes into Sudan, they have so far failed to silence the guns.
Next week, the head of the Sudanese Armed Forces and Chairman of the Transitional Sovereignty Council, General Abdel Fattah Burhan, will be in New York for the 79th session of the UN General Assembly (GA).
“The upcoming General Assembly marks an additional opportunity for Member States and the United Nations alike to raise the profile of this escalating tragedy. Relevant external players must act responsibly and use their leverage over the warring parties to advance peace efforts,” Pobee said.
Diplomats say there will be several meetings on the sidelines of the General Assembly to discuss the situation in Sudan, including a ministerial-level meeting. Saudi Arabia, the United States, the European Union and the United Nations will convene the high-level meeting on September 25.
The event will serve as a call for concerted global action to address the consequences of the deteriorating humanitarian crisis in Sudan and its impact on the region, and to strengthen support for the ongoing humanitarian response.
General Burhan said Wednesday that the Sudanese government "remains resolute and fully committed to ending the suffering of our citizens" and is open to all constructive efforts aimed at ending the war. He said he looks forward to discussing it further during his trip to New York.
RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo expressed a similar commitment Thursday, saying on social media that his side is "willing to go anywhere in the world in search of peace."
"We reaffirm our commitment to cease-fire negotiations. We believe that the path to peace lies in dialogue, not random violence, and we will continue to engage in peace processes to secure a future free from fear and suffering for all Sudanese civilians," Dagalo said.
According to UN-appointed experts, the warring parties in Sudan have committed an appalling range of harrowing human rights violations and international crimes, including many that may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
More than seventeen months after the outbreak of the conflict, Sudan is experiencing a humanitarian crisis of devastating proportions. At least half of the population is now in need of humanitarian assistance, and an unprecedented hunger crisis has gripped the country.
The conflict has killed or injured tens of thousands of people, caused record displacement and immense harm to civilians, and resulted in widespread atrocities. Essential services have been severely disrupted, as have the livelihoods of millions of people.
Since the beginning of the war, at least 10.6 million people - including more than 5 million children - have been displaced by the ongoing conflict. While more than 8.3 million people - Sudanese and refugees already living in the country - have been forced to flee within Sudan, at least 2.3 million women, men and children have sought refuge in other countries.
Most of those who have crossed borders have sought refuge in the seven countries surrounding the northeastern African nation. South Sudan has received the largest number of people from Sudan - more than 790,000 - many of them South Sudanese returning after many years. Chad has seen the largest influx of refugees in its history, with some 644,000 people crossing the border.
Funding shortfalls continue to undermine the humanitarian response, both within Sudan and in neighboring countries. To date, only 49 percent of the US$2.7 billion requested in the 2024 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan (HNRP) has been received. Coverage of the 2024 Regional Refugee Response Plan (RRP) is even worse, with 22 percent of the required amount currently funded.
Some information for this report provided by VOA.