In light of the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian crisis in Sudan, the Secretary-General is sending the Emergency Relief Coordinator and Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Martin Griffiths, to the region immediately, the United Nations said.
The scale and speed of what is unfolding is unprecedented in Sudan. We are extremely concerned by the immediate as well as long-term impact on all people in Sudan, and the broader region, he said.
We once again urge all parties to the conflict to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, allow safe passage for civilians fleeing areas of hostilities, respect humanitarian workers and assets, facilitate relief operations, and respect medical personnel, transport and facilities, the Secretary-General added.
Pertinently, more than 400 civilians have died in the fighting in Sudan so far. The civilian death toll reached at least 411 over the weekend, according to Sudan Doctors’ Syndicate, which is monitoring deaths in the country.
The intense fighting in Khartoum has reached its third week.
In Sudan, the rivalry between two top generals has engulfed the north African country in warfare.
The fighting between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan’s forces and his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) began on April 15 over a dispute on the planned integration of the RSF into the regular army.
The clashes are between the regular army and a paramilitary force called the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Since the 2021 coup, Sudan has been run by a council of generals, led by the two military men at the centre of this dispute. One is Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the head of the armed forces and in effect, the country’s president and his deputy and leader of the RSF, Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, better known as Hemedti.
They have disagreed on the direction the country is going in and the proposed move towards civilian rule.
The main sticking points are plans to include the 100,000-strong RSF into the army, and who would then lead the new force.
It is disputed who fired the first shot but the fighting swiftly escalated in different parts of the country with more than 400 civilians dying, according to the World Health Organization.
