By Michelle Nichols and Daphne Psaledakis
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday had a blunt message for countries providing military support to Sudan’s warring parties or profiting from the conflict: “Enough.”
“Use your resources to ease Sudanese suffering, not deepen it. Use your influence to end the war, not perpetuate it. Don’t just claim to be concerned about Sudan’s future, prove it,” he told the United Nations Security Council.
The war erupted in April 2023 amid a power struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) ahead of a planned transition to civilian rule, triggering the world’s largest displacement and hunger crisis.
The United Arab Emirates has denied giving military support to the RSF. Independent U.N. experts found the reports credible. The Sudanese army has acquired Iranian-made drones, sources have told Reuters. The army denied getting weapons from Iran.
Russia has provided diplomatic support to the Sudanese authorities, vetoing a Security Council resolution on Sudan last month that both disagreed with. Reuters also reported in October that a plane downed in Sudan’s North Darfur had Russian crew members and was being used by Sudan’s army to resupply troops.
Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia categorically rejected “insinuations about us allegedly playing with both sides of the conflict in an attempt to profit from the developments in Sudan.”
“We stress that we will continue to decisively suppress any attempts to encroach upon the sovereignty of this brotherly country. We’ll continue to prevent the adoption of one sided, non-viable solutions,” he said.
UAE U.N. Ambassador Mohamed Issa Abushahab said his country is not providing support to any of the warring parties.
“The UAE calls on the warring parties to cease hostilities and put the Sudanese people ahead of their military objectives,” he told the council.
The U.N. says nearly 25 million people – half of Sudan’s population – need aid as famine has taken hold in displacement camps and 11 million people have fled their homes. Nearly 3 million of those people have left for other countries.
GANG RAPE
Blinken announced some $200 million in additional humanitarian assistance to provide food, shelter and healthcare to Sudan. He also said Washington would use every tool, including further sanctions, to prevent abuses in Sudan and hold perpetrators accountable, calling on others to do the same.
Senior U.N. aid official Edem Wosornu described a “horrendous human toll” in Sudan.
“Fierce hostilities in populated areas escalating and spreading, with evident disregard for international humanitarian law. Civilians killed and injured in unbearable numbers,” she told the Security Council.
“Millions stalked by the threat of famine, in the world’s largest hunger crisis. Sexual violence rife,” Wosornu added. “This is a crisis of staggering scale and cruelty. One that demands sustained and urgent attention.”
The war in Sudan has produced waves of ethnically driven violence blamed largely on the RSF. The RSF denies harming civilians and attributes the activity to rogue actors.
Shayna Lewis, a Sudan specialist with nonprofit group PAEMA (Preventing and Ending Mass Atrocities), recounted speaking with a young woman from Sudan’s Darfur region earlier this year. Lewis said the woman had been gang-raped in her family home.
“Her father beat against the door of the room she was trapped in trying to save his baby girl. In return, the RSF troops shot him dead for daring to protect her,” Lewis told the council.
The RSF and allies have committed “staggering” levels of sexual abuse, raping civilians as troops advance and abducting some women as sex slaves, a U.N. fact-finding mission reported in October, with victims ranging from 8 to 75 years old.
The report echoed investigations by Reuters and rights groups into widespread sexual abuse in the conflict. The RSF has previously said it would investigate allegations and bring perpetrators to justice.
(Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis and Michelle Nichols; Editing by Leslie Adler, Rosalba O’Brien and Daniel Wallis)
