KHARTOUM, Sudan, December 27 (ANI): United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday called for an immediate ceasefire in Sudan’s ongoing civil war, which the UN has described as the “world’s worst humanitarian crisis,” Al Jazeera reported.
Guterres’s appeal follows a peace initiative presented by Sudanese Prime Minister Kamil Idris to the UN Security Council earlier this week, which called for the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to disarm. The RSF rejected the plan as “wishful thinking,” according to Al Jazeera.
The conflict erupted in April 2023 after a power struggle between the Sudanese army and the RSF. Since then, the war has displaced 9.6 million people internally and forced 4.3 million to flee to neighboring countries. Currently, 30.4 million Sudanese require humanitarian assistance, according to UN figures.
UN Assistant Secretary-General Mohamed Khaled Khiari told the Security Council that fears of intensified fighting during the dry season have been confirmed. “Each passing day brings staggering levels of violence and destruction. Civilians are enduring immense, unimaginable suffering, with no end in sight,” he said.
In recent weeks, the conflict has shifted to Sudan’s central Kordofan region, where the RSF captured the strategic Heglig oilfield on December 8. South Sudanese forces reportedly crossed into Sudan to protect the infrastructure, highlighting “the increasingly complex nature of the conflict and its expanding regional dimensions,” Khiari warned.
The RSF has also launched an offensive to consolidate control over North Darfur state, attacking towns in the Dar Zaghawa region near the Chad border since December 24. The offensive threatens to close the last escape corridor for civilians fleeing to Chad.
The Sudan Doctors Network, a medical advocacy group monitoring the conflict, reported that more than 200 people, including women and children, were killed on an ethnic basis by the RSF in the Ambaro, Sarba, and Abu Qamra areas of North Darfur during the offensive.
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