Sudan's warring generals must face 'accountability': UN mission

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
12 Jul 2023 16:23

Head of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan, Volker Perthes, says that in Sudan, "none of the two sides is able to score a decisive victory," and emphasized the consequential "humanitarian catastrophe."

Volker Perthes, the U.N. envoy for Sudan, speaks during a conference in Khartoum, Sudan, Monday, Jan. 10, 2022. (AP)

The UN mission in Sudan said, on Wednesday, that the two warring sides have to face "accountability" for the "crimes" committed throughout the ongoing conflict.

As the conflict nears its three months, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Sudan and Head of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan, Volker Perthes, warned that the current conflict "risks morphing into an ethnicised, tribalised and ideologised conflict which is much closer to being a full-blown civil war."

Perthes explained that multiple human rights violations have already been carried out, including "murder, rape and looting," which he claimed has made people despise both generals.

He underscored that "the interpretation of what I hear is that a majority of the Sudanese don't want these generals to continue in any way in the country," adding that "The ICC [International Criminal Court] of course is watching -- it's not up to me to ask the ICC to take action, but I think they are on it."

Perthes then reaffirmed that "It's almost three months into the war and still none of the two sides is able to score a decisive victory," and emphasized the consequential "humanitarian catastrophe."

Sudan army refuses to attend peace talks in Ethiopia

Sudan's army has refused to attend a regional bloc meeting aimed at putting an end to nearly three months of brutal fighting in the North African country.

The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), an East African bloc, invited both the Sudanese army and the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to its meeting in Ethiopia's capital on Monday. However, Sudan’s army accused Kenya, which chaired the talks, of favoring the RSF.

The fighting in Sudan broke out in mid-April as a result of a power struggle between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.

Dagalo did not attend the Addis Ababa talks in person, but the RSF sent a representative to the quartet meeting, which was attended by Kenya, South Sudan, Djibouti, and Ethiopia.

Following a meeting on Monday, the quartet issued a communique, deploring "the regrettable absence of the delegation of the Sudanese Armed Forces in spite of the invitation and confirmation of attendance."

The quartet stated that it had agreed to "mobilize and concentrate the efforts of all stakeholders towards delivering a face-to-face meeting between the leaders of the warring parties." It also called on the rival generals to "immediately stop the violence and sign an unconditional and indefinite ceasefire."

The meeting came a day after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that Sudan is on the verge of a full-fledged civil war, which could spread to neighboring countries and threaten regional stability.