New York, US
Reuters
Human rights lawyer Amal Clooney and world leaders on Thursday pleaded for more attention to be paid to the war in Sudan and for accountability in fighting that has killed thousands and displaced millions of civilians.
“There are survivors around the world who see robust and concerted action on Ukraine, and … they are no less deserving elsewhere,” Clooney said at an event in New York during the annual high-level United Nations General Assembly.
Amal Clooney, Special Advisor to the ICC Prosecutor of the situation in Sudan, pauses while speaking at the UNGA High Level Event: Ensuring Collective action for securing Human Rights and Justice in Sudan, during the 78th United Nations General Assembly in New York City, US, on 21st September, 2023. PICTURE: Reuters/Shannon Stapleton
SUDAN’S RIVAL MILITARY LEADERS GIVE COMPETING ADDRESSES TO UN
The heads of Sudan’s rival military factions gave competing addresses to the United Nations on Thursday, one from the podium at UN headquarters in New York and the other in a rare video recording from an undisclosed location.
Army leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, speaking at the United Nations, called on the international community to designate the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces) as a terrorist organisation and to counter its sponsors outside Sudan’s borders.
RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, said in a video message that his forces were fully prepared for a ceasefire and comprehensive political talks to end the conflict.
Both sides blamed the other for starting the war that erupted in mid-April in Khartoum and has spread to other parts of the country including the western region of Darfur, displacing more than 5 million people and threatening to destabilise the region.
Most of Hemedti’s recent communications have been audio messages, and his whereabouts have been a source of speculation.
In the video released on Thursday shortly before Burhan spoke he appeared in military uniform, seated behind a desk with a Sudanese national flag behind him as he read out his speech. His location was not clear.
Previous assertions by the army and the RSF that they are seeking a solution to the conflict, as well as announcements of ceasefires by both sides, have failed to stop bloodshed and the deepening of a humanitarian crisis in Sudan.
– KHALID ABDEAZIZ, YOMNA EHAB AND ENAS ALASHRAY/Reuters
The event was hosted by the US, Canada, Gambia, Norway and the United Kingdom to bring attention to the Sudan conflict and ensure justice. The war between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces broke out in mid-April when disputes linked to an internationally-backed plan for a political transition boiled over, four years after long-time ruler Omar al-Bashir was overthrown in a popular uprising.
US Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said the United States supports the International Criminal Court prosecutor’s announcement that alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Darfur region of Sudan may be subject to investigation and that his office has started investigating recent events.
Ethnically motivated attacks perpetrated by Sudan’s RSF and allied militia have killed hundreds in West Darfur, the United Nations human rights chief said this month.
In the early 2000s, some 300,000 people were killed in Darfur when “Janjaweed” militias – from which the RSF formed – helped the army crush a rebellion by mainly non-Arab groups. Sudanese leaders are wanted by the ICC for genocide and crimes against humanity.
“The international community has failed to hold those responsible for previous crimes to account. So, these guys think they can do it again. We’ve failed to secure justice for the people of Darfur. And that needs to change immediately,” Thomas-Greenfield said on Thursday.
The conflict has caused widespread clashes, looting and shortages of food and medicine in Khartoum and other cities, driving more than five million people from their homes.
“If we’re not outraged by what we’re seeing here, where’s our humanity?” ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan asked at Thursday’s event.
UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said at a separate meeting on Sudan on Wednesday that 5,000 people have been killed, 12,000 injured and more than six million face acute food shortages.
