UNITED NATIONS, Oct 31 (APP): As the fall of El Fasher, capital of Sudan’s North Darfur region, to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group deepened the existing chaos, Pakistan has urged the UN Security Council to act “with unity and resolve” to bring about a ceasefire, protect civilians and give the people a chance to rebuild their country.
“The people of Sudan have endured unimaginable suffering for far too long,” Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, permanent representative of Pakistan to the United Nations, told the UN Security Council when it met in an urgent session on Thursday to discuss the sharp deterioration in the situation in Darfur region.
“It is time for this Council to send an unambiguous message that it will not remain a passive spectator while innocent civilians are massacred, hospitals are bombed, and aid workers are targeted with impunity,” the Pakistani envoy said.
Pakistan, he added, condemns, “in the strongest possible terms”, RSF’s atrocities and its violent takeover of El Fasher.
“We are appalled by the killing of hundreds of patients and health workers at the Saudi Maternity Hospital and by the continued siege that has trapped thousands of civilians in inhumane conditions, the Pakistani envoy said, adding, “These heinous acts must stop immediately, and the perpetrators and their sponsors must be held fully accountable.”
The conflict in Sudan began in April 2023, when a long-simmering power struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and RSF erupted into open war.
The RSF traces its roots to the Janjaweed militias accused of atrocities in Darfur 20 years ago, while the SAF represents the remnants of long-standing military rule from Khartoum.
Both forces once shared power after the 2019 ouster of former president Omar al-Bashir, but a dispute over integrating the RSF into the national army triggered a nationwide collapse.
What began as a contest for control of the State has since devolved into a brutal struggle marked by ethnic killings, urban siege warfare, mass displacement, and famine conditions across large parts of the country.
In his remarks, Ambassador Asim Ahmad said, “For over two decades, we have witnessed a tragedy unfolding in Sudan – complicated by external interference and geo-politics”.
The Security Council’s perceived lack of full support for the Sudanese Government only emboldens RSF and prolongs the conflict, creating a vacuum that armed groups exploit to commit further atrocities and destabilize the region, he said.
Voicing support for Sudan’s sovereignty, the Pakistani envoy unequivocally condemned the establishment of any so-called “parallel governance structures”, which undermine State institutions and risk fragmenting the country.
“It is therefore imperative that the international community engage constructively with the Sudanese authorities to sustain governance, facilitate humanitarian access, advance the political process, and preserve national unity.”
Pakistan, he said, recognizes the steps taken by the Sudanese Government in pursuance of its transitional roadmap, including the appointment of a new Prime Minister and a technocratic cabinet tasked with alleviating humanitarian suffering and advancing an inclusive political transition, calling them “positive developments” deserving the Council’s support.
As there is no military solution to this conflict, Ambassador Asim Ahmad said the guns must fall silent, and external interference stop.
“We call for an immediate cessation of hostilities and for renewed engagement in a genuinely Sudanese-led and Sudanese-owned political process, consistent with the spirit of the Jeddah Declaration and commitments to Protect the Civilians in Sudan.”
Tom Fletcher, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, set the tone of the debate,
saying, “What is unfolding in El Fasher recalls the horrors Darfur was subjected to 20 years ago.”
As RSF forces took the city days ago, reports of sexual violence, attacks on aid workers and extreme dangers for children have escalated. Already, over 90 per cent of children lack access to education and over 24 million people — 40 per cent of the population — lack sufficient food.
“The world has failed an entire generation,” Fletcher stressed, adding: “The Sudan crisis is, at its core, a failure of protection, and our responsibility to uphold international law.”
He condemned the fresh attacks on civilians, including the reported killing of nearly 500 people at El Fasher’s Saudi Maternity Hospital, and blamed RSF for blocking humanitarian access to traumatized communities. Despite severe challenges, humanitarian operations have reached some 13.5 million people, he said, announcing $20 million in new UN funding for Darfur and Kordofan States.
Also briefing the Council was Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee, Assistant Secretary-General for Africa in the UN Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations, who outlined “profound” human costs of El Fasher’s fall to RSF. There are credible reports of ethnically targeted violence, high rates of sexual violence, mass killings and house-to-house searches. Communications have been cut off and the situation is chaotic.
“Despite commitments to protect civilians, the reality is that no one is safe in El Fasher,” she stressed.
Urging the parties to return to the negotiating table in good faith as the only way to reverse Sudan’s “spiralling descent into de facto fragmentation”, she said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has been unequivocal in his call for external interference in Sudan’s conflict to stop.
She also echoed Fletcher’s concerns over the global community’s “indifference” and “resignation” and called on the Council to act.
“Reports and warnings about the unfolding catastrophe in El Fasher have been issued for months, [but] so far, the UN and the Security Council have not taken decisive action to prevent the situation from deteriorating,” she said.