UN secretary-general calls for Sudan cease-fire as conflict is ‘spiraling out of control’

The United Nations secretary-general warned Tuesday that the war in Sudan is “spiraling out of control” after a paramilitary force seized the besieged and famine-stricken Darfur city of el-Fasher.

Speaking in Qatar, Antonio Guterres called for an immediate ceasefire in the two-year conflict that’s become one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

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“Hundreds of thousands of civilians are trapped by this siege,” Guterres said. “People are dying of malnutrition, disease and violence.” He noted “credible reports of widespread executions since the Rapid Support Forces entered the city.”

The paramilitary RSF reportedly killed more than 450 people in a hospital and carried out ethnically targeted killings of civilians and sexual assaults while seizing the city last week. It had besieged el-Fasher for 18 months, cutting off most food and other supplies needed by tens of thousands of people.

The RSF has denied committing atrocities, but testimonies from those fleeing, online videos and satellite images offer an apocalyptic vision of their attack. The scope of the violence remains unclear because communications are poor in the region.

A call for no more weapons for Sudan

The war between the RSF and the Sudanese military began in April 2023. More than 40,000 people have been killed, according to U.N. figures, but aid groups say the true death toll could be many times higher.

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The fighting has driven more than 14 million people from their homes and fueled disease outbreaks. Two regions of Sudan are enduring a famine that’s at risk of spreading.

Asked if he thought there was a role for international peacekeepers in Sudan, Guterres said it was important to “gather all the international community and all those that have leverage in relation to Sudan to stop the fighting.”

Guterres also said it’s essential to make sure “no more weapons come into Sudan,” adding: “We need to create mechanisms of accountability because the crimes that are being committed are so horrendous.”

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On Monday, seven people including children were killed in a RSF drone attack on a pediatric hospital in Kernoi in North Darfur, according to the Sudan Doctors Network, a medical group that tracks the conflict. Five others including two children were severely wounded.

New voices from el-Fasher

Nearly 71,000 people have been displaced since the RSF took control of el-Fasher, according to the U.N. migration agency. A few thousand have reached the nearest displacement camp in Tawila, 65 kilometers (40 miles) away, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council, which runs the camp.

Habib Allah Yakoub, 27, said he walked with his pregnant wife to Tawila after their house in el-Fasher was destroyed.

“We spent two days on the road, but thank God we finally arrived,” said Yakoub, who said he was shot in the arm while trying to get water shortly before they fled. He sat on the ground in the dusty camp surrounded by tents made of fabric and plastic lashed to sticks.

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Samiya Ibrahim, 38, said RSF gunmen had besieged the house where she was hiding with her children and husband. They eventually escaped but her husband got separated from the others.

“The RSF had beaten and tortured us. They took all our belongings and did not leave us anything. Up till today, I have no idea where my husband is and whether he is alive or dead,” Ibrahim said, as a small child sat quietly beside her.

She and the children walked for several days to Garni, a village on a key humanitarian supply route 18 miles away.