UN Security Council to weigh call for immediate Sudan ceasefire

 

A Sudanese army soldier mans a machine gun on top of a military pickup truck outside a hospital in Omdurman on November 2, 2024.  [AFP]

The UN Security Council on Monday will take up a draft resolution calling for an immediate end to hostilities in Sudan, where a war between two rival generals shows no sign of easing.

A draft text seen by AFP, prepared by Britain and Sierra Leone, calls on the parties to "immediately cease hostilities and engage, in good faith, in dialogue to agree steps to de-escalate the conflict with the aim of urgently agreeing a national ceasefire."

Sudan has been ravaged since April 2023 by fighting between the regular army of General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who seized power in a 2021 coup, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) led by his onetime deputy, General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

The conflict has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than 11 million people, including 3.1 million who have fled the country, according to UN figures.

Recent weeks have seen violence flare up again, with each camp seemingly "convinced they can prevail on the battlefield," Rosemary DiCarlo, UN under-secretary-general for political affairs, said recently.

The fighting has taken a high toll on civilians, with some 26 million people facing severe food shortages and both sides exchanging accusations of sexual violence.

Against that backdrop, the draft resolution calls on both parties to "fully implement" commitments made in 2023 to protect civilians, to "halt and prevent conflict-related sexual violence," and to allow "rapid, safe, unhindered" humanitarian access into and throughout Sudan.

'External interference'

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who will preside over Monday's session, promised to "press for a resolution that ensures the protection of civilians and an unrestricted passage of aid."

While several diplomats told AFP they felt confident the text would be adopted, the position of Russia -- a veto holder on the council -- remained less clear.

One diplomat said that during negotiations over the draft, Russia had appeared to become "visibly more aligned" with General Burhan's camp.

The draft calls on member states to avoid any "external interference which foments conflict and instability" and urges all sides to respect an embargo against arms transfers to Darfur.

Sudan has accused the United Arab Emirates of providing arms to the RSF, a charge rejected by Abu Dhabi.

If the resolution is adopted, it remains unclear what actual effect it might have.

A Security Council resolution in March calling for an "immediate" ceasefire during the month of Ramadan had little impact.

And a council demand in July for the RSF to end its "siege" of the city of El-Fasher, where thousands of civilians were trapped, was similarly ineffective.

Regardless, the draft asks UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to consider a possible system for "surveillance and verification" of an eventual ceasefire.

Guterres himself made such a recommendation in a recent report, though he added that "at present, the conditions do not exist for the successful deployment of a United Nations force to protect civilians in Sudan."