The head of the United Nations appealed for greater international pressure to deescalate tensions in Sudan, where clashes continued two days after the warring sides agreed to a cease-fire.
(Bloomberg) — The head of the United Nations appealed for greater international pressure to deescalate tensions in Sudan, where clashes continued two days after the warring sides agreed to a cease-fire.
There’s growing chaos at the nation’s borders as residents flee violence that’s caused shortages of everything from food and fuel to water and medicine. The army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces who began fighting April 15 traded accusations about breaking into jails and freeing prisoners, raising questions about the whereabouts of former dictator Omar al-Bashir, who has been held at a facility in the capital, Khartoum, since 2019.
The UN’s representative in Sudan, Volker Perthes, said that while the truce announced late Monday appeared to be holding in some locations, there is continued fighting and movement of troops, with clashes occurring around the presidential palace, the international airport and military bases in Khartoum. There are also reports of looting and attempted sexual assaults, and signs that ethnic militias are arming themselves to join the fight, he told the Security Council on Tuesday.
‘Lighting a Fuse’
“The power struggle in Sudan is not only putting that country’s future at risk, it is lighting a fuse that could detonate across borders, causing immense suffering for years, and setting development back for decades,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said. “I urge all council members and other member states and regional organizations with influence to press them to de-escalate tensions and return to the negotiating table immediately.”
International efforts to end the crisis have intensified, though diplomats have yet to convince army leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, head of the paramilitary RSF, to agree to talks, said two senior envoys who declined to be identified as they’re not authorized to speak to the media. Saudi Arabia and the US have joined forces alongside the UN and other countries to try broker talks between the two generals, while Khalid Omer, a former cabinet minister and chief spokesman for the Forces of Freedom and Change — a coalition of pro-democracy groups — is leading mediation efforts in Sudan, they said.
Foreign governments have looked to the African Union to help lead efforts to end the crisis as they may be able to bring the pressure of countries in the region to bear on the two men. The continental body brought forward to Wednesday a briefing to discuss the situation in Sudan that had been scheduled for April 28.
The fighting has left 427 people dead, more than 3,700 injured and upended plans for a power-sharing government that was supposed to lead the nation of about 45 million to democratic elections after a 2021 coup.
Thousands of people have fled across the western border with Chad and the northern border with neighboring Egypt, where the authorities have struggled to cope. Videos posted online showed scores of Sudanese people sprawled on the floor on mats awaiting to be processed by officials. A bus ticket that cost $60-$70 a week ago has increased ten-fold, said Sherine Tadros, deputy director of advocacy at London-based human-rights group Amnesty International.
“At the border the lines of buses are long, processing is so slow and there is nowhere to wait,” she said on Twitter. “Many women, children, elderly sitting on the cement floor for days.”
A spokesperson for the UN’s refugee agency said there was no detailed information available yet about the situation on the Egyptian border.
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