The UN Security Council has demanded that the siege in El-Fasher, Sudan, be lifted immediately.
El-Fasher is a crucial city in the Darfur region, and the United Nations Security Council has sent a strong message to the paramilitary forces of Sudan, demanding that they end their eight-week siege of the city. There are grave concerns that a genocide may be taking place in Sudan due to the continuing conflict.
Thousands have died, and millions have been displaced as a result of the terrible civil war that has engulfed Sudan’s army for more than a year, pitting them against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). When it comes to Darfur, El-Fasher is the last big urban foothold that the Sudanese army controls.
All armed forces are to withdraw from El-Fasher, and a “immediate halt to the fighting” is what the Security Council has firmly demanded. With fourteen affirmative votes and a single Russian abstention, the council approved a British-drafted resolution. As the violence in El-Fasher escalated, the resolution expressed “grave concern” over the “ethnically motivated violence” that the RSF was allegedly committing.
According to the statement from the Security Council, the parties involved in the dispute should “seek an immediate cessation of hostilities, leading to a sustainable resolution to the conflict, through dialogue.” The resolution further highlighted the importance of removing obstacles to humanitarian supplies and ensuring safe passage for those seeking to flee El-Fasher.
Speaking about the 1.5 million people taking refuge in the city, the United Kingdom’s UN representative Barbara Woodward brought attention to the serious humanitarian crisis. In her remarks, she emphasized that the council had delivered a powerful message to the warring factions today. We must put a stop to this harsh and unfair conflict.
The resolution sends a message to the Sudanese Armed Forces and the RSF that their activities are being watched by the world community, according to Louis Charbonneau of Human Rights Watch. “Refrain from external interference” and rigorous adherence to the arms embargo imposed on Sudan were also emphasized by the Security Council.
The last functional hospital in El-Fasher has been attacked and forced to close due to the siege. The UN reports that between April and May, almost 130,000 people left the city as a result of the heavy fighting.
As other international crises in Gaza and Ukraine take center stage, UN experts have warned of a growing danger of genocide in the Darfur region. Human rights groups in Darfur have accused the RSF of horrific crimes, such as ethnic cleansing against darker-skinned Masalit and other non-Arab populations and using rape as a weapon of war.
In spite of these claims, the RSF maintains that it has nothing to do with the “tribal conflict” in Darfur. A rift between the two army commanders and the RSF led to the outbreak of hostilities, which have persisted despite multiple rounds of peace talks.
The world community’s cries for peace and humanitarian aid underscore the crucial need to end the war that has devastated Sudan, and the situation there remains terrible. A critical step in solving the crisis and stopping additional regional tragedies has been taken by the Security Council in its resolution.
