New York - Khartoum: Europe and the Arabs
Rose Marie DiCarlo, Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, stressed the importance of keeping the spotlight on the need to immediately end the war ravaging Sudan and its people, while an official at the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that the outlook for the people of Sudan is bleak, that the conflict is still raging and the risk of famine remains. Standing. According to what was stated in the daily news bulletin of the United Nations
In a briefing before a Security Council session on Sudan yesterday, Friday, DiCarlo said that since the outbreak of the conflict, “the Sudanese people have endured unbearable suffering,” and both parties to the conflict failed to protect civilians, as more than 14,000 people were killed and tens of thousands wounded.
She recalled three "horrific numbers": half of the country's population, or about 25 million people, are in need of life-saving assistance, while more than 8.6 million were forced to flee their homes, including 1.8 million refugees.
It referred to reports of atrocities, including the widespread use of sexual violence as a weapon of war, the recruitment of children by parties to the conflict, and the extensive use of torture and prolonged arbitrary detention by both sides.
She pointed out that thousands of homes, schools, hospitals and other basic civilian infrastructure facilities were destroyed, adding that "the war destroyed large areas of the country's productive sectors, paralyzing the economy."
“In short, this is a crisis of epic proportions,” she added. “And it is entirely man-made.”
DiCarlo reiterated the Secretary-General's call on all parties to exercise maximum restraint and avoid further bloodshed.
She touched on the Jeddah Forum, which she said provides a promising means for dialogue between the warring parties to reach an agreement on a ceasefire and related transitional security arrangements.
She welcomed the results of the Paris conference on Sudan, saying, "We must build on the momentum achieved by the Paris conference to strengthen our efforts to help end the fighting and return Sudan to a comprehensive path toward comprehensive democracy and recovery."
Avoid starvation
In turn, Edem and Surno, Director of Operations and Advocacy at the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told the Security Council that a year after the outbreak of conflict in Sudan on April 15, 2023, residential neighborhoods turned into battlefields, office buildings caught fire, and civilians fled from Khartoum, carrying whatever possessions they could carry.
She added in her briefing on behalf of the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, “It is particularly sad to see what happened in Sudan, given the situation the country was in before the start of this conflict, which was a safe haven for more than a million refugees.” "And a regional center for medical facilities and universities. Much of this has now disappeared."
She reiterated her call on parties to the conflict to respect their obligations under international humanitarian law, stressing that sexual violence is strictly prohibited like other forms of inhuman treatment, and that parties must continually protect civilians and civilian objects.
But, she added, "often, these commitments do not seem to be adhered to." The parties also called for an immediate cessation of violence around the El Fasher region and throughout the country.
She reiterated that 18 million people are facing acute hunger, a number that is expected to rise with the lean season quickly approaching, noting that they launched a famine prevention plan a week ago.
“If we want to avoid famine, the parties must take urgent steps to facilitate humanitarian relief for all civilians in need,” she said, and humanitarian workers must be able to reach affected communities wherever they are and through all possible routes.
She warned that "the people of Sudan cannot wait another month, a week, or even another day for their suffering to stop."
Gloomy prospects
Also speaking before the Security Council was Mohamed Ibn Chambas, Chairman of the African Union High-Level Committee on Sudan, who said that the war had set the country back several decades, “and it will take more than a generation to rebuild Sudan to what it was before the war.”
He added that Sudan's prospects for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, or the goals of the African Union's Agenda 2063, "appear very bleak, dooming millions of Sudanese to poverty and suffering for decades to come."
He warned that mediation efforts in the crisis have not yet been successful, noting that external interference was also a major factor in exacerbating efforts to negotiate a ceasefire and stop the war.
He added, "External support in terms of supplying military equipment and other means was the main reason for the continuation of this war for a long time."
He recalled that the mandate of the Committee is to engage Sudanese actors, including warring parties as well as other civilian stakeholders and armed groups, to implement the African Union roadmap to resolve the conflict in Sudan.