The United Nations Security Council is currently reviewing a British-drafted resolution that urges a halt to hostilities between Sudan’s warring factions and demands safe, unhindered humanitarian aid delivery across conflict lines and borders. The draft resolution underscores the critical need for aid access to the millions of Sudanese affected by the ongoing violence.
The conflict began in April 2023 as a result of a power struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) during a planned transition to civilian governance. The ensuing violence has caused the world’s largest displacement crisis, intensifying ethnic violence across the country. While the RSF has denied targeting civilians, blaming rogue elements instead, they have been largely implicated in the violence. Last week, the Security Council imposed its first sanctions in the conflict, designating two RSF generals for sanctions.
“Nineteen months into the war, both sides are committing egregious human rights violations, including the widespread rape of women and girls,” Britain’s U.N. ambassador, Barbara Woodward, stated as Britain assumed the Council’s presidency for November.
“More than half the Sudanese population are experiencing severe food insecurity,” she added. “Despite this, the SAF and the RSF remain focused on fighting each other and not the famine and suffering facing their country.”
British diplomats are aiming to bring the draft resolution to a vote soon. To be adopted, the resolution needs at least nine affirmative votes and no vetoes from the United States, Britain, France, Russia, or China.
The humanitarian crisis in Sudan is severe, with the U.N. reporting that nearly 25 million people, half of Sudan’s population, now rely on humanitarian aid, and 11 million have been displaced. Around 3 million people have fled to neighboring countries, as famine and deprivation take hold in displacement camps.
Britain’s draft demands that the RSF “immediately halt its offensives throughout Sudan” and insists that both warring parties cease hostilities at once. Additionally, it calls on the conflicting parties to “allow and facilitate the full, safe, rapid, and unhindered crossline and cross-border humanitarian access into and throughout Sudan.”
The draft resolution further calls for the Adre border crossing with Chad to remain open for aid deliveries, stressing the importance of maintaining humanitarian access through all border points. Currently, the three-month authorization granted by Sudanese authorities to allow the U.N. and aid agencies access to the Darfur region via the Adre crossing is set to expire in mid-November.
Previously, the Security Council has passed two resolutions related to the Sudan crisis: a March resolution urging a ceasefire during Ramadan and a June resolution calling for an end to the RSF siege of a city in North Darfur. Both resolutions, adopted with 14 votes in favor and a Russian abstention, also called for unrestricted humanitarian access across Sudan.
(Reuters)