Sudan war: US undertakes another diplomatic push to end Sudan's 'senseless conflict'
Washington, DC, US (PANA) - US Special Envoy for Sudan, Tom Perriello, will from Monday visit several African and Middle Eastern countries as it undertakes another diplomatic round to end the bloodletting in Sudan's raging war.
The US State Department said in a news release on Satirday that Mr. Perriello would undertake the tour of Uganda, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates from 11-23 March, "demonstrating the priority the Administration places on ending the Sudan conflict, meeting the immediate and dire humanitarian needs of the Sudanese people, and charting a path toward civilian, democratic government".
It said in Kampala, Addis Ababa, Nairobi, and Cairo, the Special Envoy would meet with a broad range of Sudanese civilians, including civil society, Resistance Committees, Emergency Response Room members, women, youth, and other Sudanese grassroots organisations and parties "to hear their perspectives on how to bolster their efforts to respond to urgent needs, demand an end to the conflict, and prepare for a democratic transition in Sudan".
The press release said in each of these capitals, as well as in, Djibouti, Riyadh, and Abu Dhabi, he would meet key African, regional, and multilateral partners to align efforts to bring an end to the devastating Sudan conflict.
The UN Security Council on Friday adopted a key resolution on Sudan, calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities during the month of Ramadan, which begins on Sunday.
In resolution 2724 (2024), adopted with 14 votes in favour and one abstention (Russia), the Council also called on all parties to the conflict to seek a sustainable resolution to the fighting through dialogue.
The conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) erupted in April last year in and around the capital.
In the eleven months since, the fighting has spread, claiming thousands of lives, driven millions from their homes and plunged Sudan into a dire humanitarian crisis.
In the resolution, the Security Council expressed grave concern over the deteriorating humanitarian situation, including “crisis levels or worse” of acute food insecurity, particularly in the Darfur region, as well as ongoing reports of violations of international humanitarian and human rights laws, including cases of sexual violence in conflict.
A wide-ranging report from the UN Human Rights Office released last month said: “For nearly a year now, accounts coming out of Sudan have been of death, suffering and despair, as the senseless conflict and human rights violations and abuses have persisted with no end in sight.”
The scathing report details multiple indiscriminate attacks by both SAF and RSF in densely populated areas between April and December 2023, including sites sheltering internally displaced people, particularly in the capital Khartoum, Kordorfan and Darfur.
“This report underlines once more the dire need to end the fighting and to break the cycle of impunity that gave rise to this conflict in the first place,” the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said.
-0- PANA MA 10March2024
