United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Sunday condemned the deaths of civilians in Sudan, including three members of the World Food Program (WFP), during fighting between the Sudanese Army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), while demanding that those responsible be »brought to justice without delay».
Guterres, who said he was »deeply concerned about the ongoing fighting, denounced that UN and other humanitarian organizations’ facilities have also been hit by shells and looted in several places in Darfur.
According to a statement from Guterres’ spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric, the UN Secretary General reminded »the parties of the need to respect international law, including the obligation to ensure the safety and security of all UN and associated personnel, their premises and property».
He also reiterated his call for an immediate cessation of fighting and a return to dialogue, while expressing his readiness to continue to work with regional leaders and stakeholders to find a way out of the crisis.
Sudan’s main civilian organizations and political parties have called in unison over the weekend not only for an end to the fighting between the Sudanese Army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), but also for an end to the »militarization» that has dominated »the public space» in the country for decades and, in particular, since the overthrow four years ago of dictator Omar al Bashir following a revolution in which civilians were an instrumental part.
The African country was ruled before the outbreak of fighting by a junta led by General Abdelfatá al Burhan who had as his ‘number two’ the military leader of the RSF, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, alias ‘Hemedti’. Disagreements between the two over paramilitary integration into a future unified army eventually degenerated into this conflict.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
