Sudanese army chief warns UN about risk of regional conflict
Sudan's army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan told the United Nations General Assembly that months of war could spill over to the entire region. He urged international pressure on the paramilitary unit his side is fighting.
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Burhan has been President of the Transitional Sovereign Council and thus de facto ruler of Sudan since a 2021 coup.
He told the UNGA on Thursday the Sudanese people had been facing a devastating war since a 15 April offensive launched against them by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
"Those who have supported killing, burning, raping, forced displacement, looting, stealing, torture, trafficking of arms and drugs, bringing mercenaries or recruiting children, all such crimes necessitate accountability and punishment," Burhan said.
He urged world powers to designate the RSF as a terrorist group. "They have committed all sorts of crimes that give grounds for such a designation," he said.
A conflict inflaming the region
"The danger of this war is now a threat to regional and international peace and security as those rebels have sought the support of outlaws and terrorist groups from different countries in the region and the world."
Burhan alluded to RSF ties with Wagner, the Russian mercenary group hit by Western sanctions over alleged abuses in Africa.
Experts have told RFI English there were reasons to believe the fighting will turn into a protracted conflict, as happened in South Sudan in 2013.
The United States earlier this month imposed sanctions on RSF leaders including senior commander Abdelrahim Hamdan Daglo, the brother of the group's leader, over alleged abuses including the killing of the governor of West Darfur.
But Washington and other Western powers have also been strongly critical of Burhan.
RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, also said in a video message to the UN, to say that his forces were fully prepared for a ceasefire and comprehensive political talks to end the conflict.
Burhan also met with strategic partners at the UNGA, like representatives from Saudi Arabia.
#NewYork | Foreign Minister HH Prince @FaisalbinFarhan met the Chairman of the Transitional Sovereignty Council of Sudan General Abdel Fattah Al Burhan, on the sidelines of the 78th Session of the United Nations General Assembly. pic.twitter.com/GpMjCrRTvI
— Foreign Ministry 🇸🇦 (@KSAmofaEN) September 22, 2023
Months of civil war
Meanwhile on the ground, the fighting is spreading. This week, the headquarters of a major oil company was reduced to a smouldering wreck amid violence between rival military factions in the capital.
The skyscraper towering over the River Nile was known as one of Sudan's main landmarks.
The city of Port Sudan, a strategic coastal spot and until now safe, has also seen the fist clashes on Monday between the Sudanese army and tribal militia.
The conflict in Sudan erupted mid-April, when tensions between Sudan’s military, led by Burhan, and the paramilitary RSF, commanded by General Dagalo, began fighting.
The fighting has killed at least 7,500 people, according to the NGO Acled.
It has also caused widespread clashes, looting and shortages of food and medicine in Khartoum and other cities, driving more than 5 million people away from their homes.
More than one million have sought refuge in neighbouring countries, including Egypt, Chad and South Sudan.
Ethnically motivated attacks perpetrated by the RSF and allied militia have killed hundreds in West Darfur, the United Nations human rights chief said this month.
The UN keeps alerting on violation of human rights and war crimes.
Their special envoy, Volker Perthes, was forced to resign mid-September.
(with newswires)
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