(United Nations) Indiscriminate attacks against civilians in Sudan could constitute “war crimes and crimes against humanity”, the UN secretary general said on Monday, a year after the start of the war between two generals rivals.
“This is more than a war between two rival parties. “It’s a war against the Sudanese people,” with thousands of deaths and 18 million people suffering from severe malnutrition, Antonio Guterres told the press.
“And it is a war against human rights and international humanitarian law. Indiscriminate attacks that kill, injure and terrorize civilians could constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity,” he insisted, also denouncing attacks on humanitarian convoys and sexual violence against women and men. girls.
He also repeated his concern expressed on Saturday about a possible imminent attack on El Fasher, capital of the state of North Darfur and humanitarian hub for this region.
Since the start of the war, on April 15, 2023, between the army of General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane and the paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces (FSR), under the command of General Mohamed Hamdane Daglo, sexual, ethnic and land violence Burning has resumed in Darfur (west).
This vast region had already been ravaged by a civil war with hundreds of thousands of victims that began in 2003.
“This weekend, militias affiliated with the RSF attacked and burned villages east of the city, causing new mass displacements and fears of a capture of El Fasher” and “the fighting continues today », worried Antonio Guterres.
“Let us be clear: any attack on El Fasher would be devastating for civilians and could lead to widespread intercommunal conflict across Darfur,” he warned.
And “it would interrupt humanitarian aid operations in an area already on the brink of famine.”
El Fasher is the only capital of the five Darfur states not in the hands of the RSF. It had until then been relatively unscathed by the ongoing war.