A UN official has alerted the Security Council to an imminent threat to the lives of 800,000 Sudanese citizens, as violence intensifies in the region, posing a grave risk of sparking deadly inter-communal conflicts throughout Darfur.
The conflict, which erupted in Sudan about a year ago between the Sudanese army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, has resulted in the world’s largest displacement crisis.
UN political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo cautioned that clashes between RSF and SAF-aligned members of the Joint Protection Forces were nearing El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur. She echoed UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s warning regarding the potential for widespread violence.
The UN estimates that nearly 25 million people, half of Sudan’s population, require assistance, with eight million having been displaced from their homes.
“The violence poses an extreme and immediate danger to the 800,000 civilians residing in El Fasher,” stated UN aid operations director Edem Wosornu. “It also risks triggering further violence in other parts of Darfur, where over nine million people urgently need humanitarian aid.”
A United Nations-backed global authority on food security emphasized the urgent need for action to prevent widespread death, total collapse of livelihoods, and a catastrophic hunger crisis in Sudan.
At a conference in Paris, donors pledged more than $2 billion in aid for war-torn Sudan. However, immediate action is imperative to address the escalating crisis and prevent further loss of life and suffering in the region.
