UN warns of intensified Sudan hostilities

AFP | Port Sudan

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The United Nations warned yesterday of “intensified hostilities” ahead in Sudan, despite paramilitary forces endorsing a truce proposal from mediators after more than two years of war with the regular army.

“There is no sign of de-escalation,” UN human rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement. “Developments on the ground indicate clear preparations for intensified hostilities, with everything that implies for its long-suffering people.”

On Thursday, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) said they had accepted a truce plan put forward by the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt.

However, the government, backed by the army, has yet to respond to the US-led mediators’ proposal, and explosions rocked the army-controlled capital Khartoum yesterday.

The war in Sudan erupted in April 2023, pitting army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan against his former deputy, RSF commander Mohammed Hamdan Daglo.

It has so far killed tens of thousands of people, displaced nearly 12 million and triggered a hunger crisis.

Less than two weeks ago, the RSF captured the city of El-Fasher, the army’s last major stronghold in Darfur, giving it control of all five state capitals in the vast western region, in addition to parts of the south.

The army controls most of Sudan’s north, east and centre. El-Fasher’s fall was accompanied by reports of mass killings, sexual violence and looting, drawing international condemnation.

Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab said on Thursday that satellite imagery collected earlier this week showed the RSF had blocked a key escape route used by civilians fleeing El-Fasher -- one of the city’s five main exits.

There are fears of further atrocities taking place as the conflict shifts into the oil-rich Kordofan region.

‘Stark warning’

Turk issued a “stark warning” yesterday about escalating violence in Kordofan -- a vast semi-arid area between Darfur and army-held Khartoum.

“Since the capture of El-Fasher, the civilian casualties, destruction and mass displacement there have been mounting,” Turk said.