UN Chief Urges Sudan's Paramilitary RSF to End Siege of North Darfur City
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has called on the leader of Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Gen. Mohammed Hamdan 'Hemedti' Dagalo, to halt its months-long siege of al-Fashir, his spokesman said over the weekend....
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Facts
- UN Secretary-General António Guterres has called on the leader of Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Gen. Mohammed Hamdan 'Hemedti' Dagalo, to halt its months-long siege of al-Fashir, his spokesman said over the weekend.[1][2][3]
- The UN chief is said to be alarmed by reports that an all-out assault has been launched to capture the besieged capital of North Darfur. According to local sources, at least 14 people, including three children, were killed in the crossfire on Saturday.[4][5]
- This comes as the crisis in Sudan has become a key point of conversation at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York amid widespread concerns that a genocide could take place if al-Fashir falls.[6][7]
- On Sunday, the UN refugee chief said that 'well over 10 million people' have been displaced due to fighting between the military and RSF, and famine has been declared in a displacement camp near al-Fashir as both warring sides have blocked aid.[6][8]
- According to UN figures, more than 14K people have been killed and 33K injured since the war broke out in April 2023. Several US-Saudi brokered cease-fires have been agreed to, but failed to end the violence.[3][9]
- In June, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution calling for 'an immediate halt to the fighting and for de-escalation in and around' al-Fashir — the last big city in Darfur not under RSF control.[2][3]
Sources: [1]UN News, [2]Reuters, [3]Al Jazeera, [4]Sudan Tribune, [5]XINHUA, [6]Wsj, [7]Guardian, [8]France 24 and [9]Anadolu Agency.
Narratives
- Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Foreign Policy. These latest developments give hope that the international community is finally about to take action to prevent a worst-case scenario while there's still time before Dagalo's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces commit genocide against non-Arab ethnic groups in al-Fashir. That intent should have long been predicted given that the RSF is essentially the janjaweed militia that did exactly that two decades ago, when a broad coalition came together to stop such atrocities.
- Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Capital News. There's a good reason the talks over Sudan have failed in spite of the dire situation faced by the civilian population. Those involved in the peace process, from the Saudis to the Emiratis to the Americans, have a vested interest in the outcome of the conflict and aren't coming to the table with the purest of intentions. There will be no hope for negotiations unless the UN gets those with a geopolitical interest in the conflict to abstain from these mediations.
