9th July, 2023
Conflict-torn Sudan is on the verge of a “full-fledged civil war,” which could destabilise the entire region, the UN said on Sunday, following an air strike on a residential neighbourhood that killed about two dozen civilians.
The Ministry of Health claimed “22 dead and a large number of injured civilians” from the strike on Khartoum’s sister city Omdurman, in the district of Dar al-Salam, which means “House of Peace” in Arabic.
The air assault comes after nearly three months of battle between Sudan’s warring generals.
Around 3,000 individuals have been slain in the fighting; survivors have recounted a surge of sexual abuse, and witnesses have spoken of ethnically targeted killings. Looting has been common, and the UN has warned of potential crimes against humanity in the Darfur region.
The health ministry uploaded a video on Facebook showing presumably deceased victims following the airstrike, including numerous ladies. According to the announcer, residents “counted 22 dead.”
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which is fighting the regular army, said 31 people were killed in the strike.
Since the beginning of the war, paramilitaries have built bases in residential areas and have been accused of forcibly removing citizens from their houses.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the air strike in Omdurman on Sunday, which he claimed “reportedly killed at least 22 people” and injured scores, according to his deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq.
Guterres “remains deeply concerned that the ongoing conflict between the armed forces has pushed Sudan to the brink of a full-scale civil war, potentially destabilising the entire region,” Haq added.
“There is a dangerous and disturbing disregard for humanitarian and human rights law,” he warned.
According to the International Organisation for Migration, about three million people have been displaced by Sudan’s violence, with nearly 700,000 fleeing to neighbouring countries.
The UN and African blocs have warned of a “ethnic dimension” to the violence in Darfur’s western region, where the RSF and affiliated militias have been responsible for the majority of severe breaches.
Haq backed the African Union and the East African bloc IGAD in their efforts to end Sudan’s issue.
Leaders from Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, and South Sudan—IIGAD members in charge of the Sudan issue—will meet in Addis Abeba on Monday.
Sudan’s army head, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and RSF commander, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, have both been invited, although neither has confirmed attendance.
Throughout the war, numerous cease-fires have been announced and then ignored.
AFP