The top UN officials warned the Security Council Friday that some 800,000 Sudanese people are in extreme and immediate danger as increasing violence spreads and threatens to unleash bloody intercommunal strife throughout.
One year ago, a war broke out in Sudan between the Sudanese Army (SAF) and Paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), resulting in the world’s worst displacement crisis.
U.N. political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo informed the 15-member Security Council that clashes between RSF and SAF-aligned members of the Joint Protection Forces were nearing El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur.
“Fighting in El Fasher could unleash bloody intercommunal strife throughout Darfur”, DiCarlo said, echoing a warning issued by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday.
According to the United Nations, almost 25 million people, or half of Sudan’s population, require humanitarian assistance, and 8 million have fled their homes.
Edem Wosornu, the U.N. aid operations director, said, “The violence poses an extreme and immediate danger to the 800,000 civilians who reside in El Fasher”.
“And it risks triggering further violence in other parts of Darfur – where more than 9 million people are in dire need of humanitarian assistance”, Wosornu added.
A United Nations-backed global food security organization stated late last month that immediate action is required to prevent widespread death, and total collapse of livelihoods and avert a catastrophic hunger crisis in Sudan.
Donors pledged over $2 billion for war-torn Sudan at a summit in Paris on Monday.
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