Battles and clashes continued between the national army and the rapid intervention in Sudan in general and the capital, Khartoum, in particular, in light of very difficult conditions and external interventions that prolong the conflict, which warns that the country has reached a crisis situation unprecedented in its history.
In this context, the death toll among civilians as a result of the ongoing clashes between the army and the Rapid Support Forces has risen to 958 deaths and 4,746 injured, according to the Sudanese Doctors Syndicate, on Wednesday.
In a statement posted on its Facebook page, the Syndicate said: “The number of civilian deaths since the beginning of the clashes has risen to 958 deaths, and 4,746 injuries.
She pointed out that there are “many, many injuries and deaths that are not included in the report, and we were unable to reach hospitals due to the difficulty of movement and the prevailing security situation in the country.”
The syndicate added, “There are a large number of victims, including children, women, and the elderly, as a result of the fighting in the city of El Geneina.”
The Syndicate described the situation in this city as “catastrophic and the worst ever”, as it was completely impossible to count the victims in this city due to the outage of all hospitals, the complete siege of the city and the interruption of communications.
In the same context, the head of the United Nations Mission in Sudan, Volker Peretz, warned that the violence taking place in the Darfur region may amount to “crimes against humanity.”
Peretz said in a statement last Tuesday that since the outbreak of the recent fighting last April, “the security, human rights and humanitarian situation continued to deteriorate rapidly throughout the country, especially in the regions of Greater Khartoum, Darfur and Kordofan.”
He added, “As the situation in Darfur continues to deteriorate, I am particularly concerned about the situation in El Geneina (West Darfur) in the wake of the various waves of violence since late April, which have taken on ethnic dimensions.”
He spoke of an “emerging pattern of widespread attacks targeting civilians on the basis of their ethnic identities that were allegedly perpetrated by Arab militias and some armed men in RSF uniforms. These reports are extremely disturbing and, if verified, could amount to crimes against humanity.”
Peretz expressed the United Nations’ condemnation “in the strongest terms of all attacks targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure, whatever their form and by whatever alleged perpetrators.” He stressed the need for “security forces and non-state armed actors to fulfill their duty under international humanitarian law to respect the right to life and refrain from on attacks against civilians.
Last week, the Sudanese government considered Peretz persona non grata, but UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres renewed his confidence in him.
Al-Burhan had previously requested the replacement of Peretz, accusing him of fueling the conflict.
United Nations: The violence in Darfur is appalling.
The United Nations Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Alice Nderitu, expressed concern over reports that armed groups are exploiting the security vacuum and protection gap in several Sudanese states.
Reports claim that hundreds were killed and many more injured in clashes between members of different tribes, including looting and burning of homes as well as an attack on El Geneina Hospital in West Darfur…with thousands of civilians fleeing from all communities from the conflict.
Reports indicated that the violence in West Darfur is horrific..and if it continues, it could develop into renewed campaigns of killing and ethnic cleansing, which amount to atrocious crimes..and the burning of the IDPs shelter in Imam Al-Kazim School in El-Geneina, West Darfur state, on the 27th. April 2023 in the context of the fighting in Sudan.
Warning of a “civil war”:
The Special Adviser reported outbreaks of tribal violence and clashes reported in other parts of the country, including in North and South Kordofan as well as in Blue Nile states.
Left unaddressed, the Special Adviser warned, the entire country could plunge into civil war, with the high stakes of atrocity crimes.
Foreign interventions in Sudan:
The Sudanese arena has been, for a long time, a scene of competition and external interference. Those countries sought to impose a specific formula for governance in Sudan, considering this formula to be the model for democratic transition in the country.
There is more than one initiative that is driven by more than one vision and interest to interfere in Sudanese affairs. The United States is wrestling with Russia in Sudan, and is supporting the civilian component, neither from a moral nor principled position. America has often supported military coups around the world in which it sees its interests, but it sees in Askar Sudan rapprochement with Russia.
As for the axis of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, it tends to keep the military at the helm of power, with a project to stop the tide of popular revolutions and democratic transformation in Sudan and the country’s joining the Zionist normalization club.
There were other mediations that had less impact on the Sudanese political scene, such as the mediation of the African Union, and the mediation of South Sudan, whose delegation returned to Juba without announcing progress towards penetrating the divergent positions between the two sides.
The Saudi-Emirati intervention in Sudan:
In order to influence what has been going on in Sudan for a long time, the New York Times revealed in the past years that the United States – which has been greatly influencing what is going on in Sudan over the past 25 years – is currently remaining silent about the interference of Saudi Arabia and the UAE in Sudanese affairs.
The American newspaper at the time, specifically on 4/27/2019 AD, stated in a report from Khartoum that America – which it described as being immersed in Sudanese affairs to the extent that it was the main factor in shaping Khartoum’s relationship with the outside world – is now absent at critical moments in which the future of Sudan is being shaped.
The newspaper identified the steps Riyadh and Abu Dhabi took to support military authority in Sudan and prevent any transition to civil or democratic rule, including providing cash, commodity and medical aid worth three billion dollars and sending their envoys to Khartoum.
The New York Times said that the initiative towards Sudan was taken by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, revealing that five Sudanese opposition forces, including a number of armed movements, recently visited Abu Dhabi to hold talks to persuade them to join a military-led government without neglecting that report about the strong opposition of the Sudanese to the Saudi-Emirati intervention and slogans. with which they expressed this refusal.
Source: Yemen News Agency