UN urges end to violence in Sudan

A senior UN official warned on Friday that violence against civilians in Sudan is “verging on pure evil,” as ethnic violence in the country’s western Darfur region escalates and the country’s humanitarian crisis deepens. After weeks of growing tension over a plan to integrate forces as part of a transition from military rule to civilian democracy, a war broke out on April 15 between the Sudanese army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The top U.N. aid official in Sudan, Clementine Nkweta-Salami, told reporters, “We continue to receive unrelenting and appalling reports of sexual- and gender-based violence and forced disappearance, arbitrary detentions, and grave violations of human and children’s rights.” “What is taking place is almost entirely malevolent. “Citizen protection remains a top priority,” the spokesperson stated. According to Nkweta-Salami, over six million people have fled their homes and are now internally displaced in Sudan or in neighbouring countries, and approximately 25 million people—more than half of the population—need humanitarian aid and protection. “We have recently received disturbing reports about escalating violence and attacks against civilians, including what appears to be on an ethnic basis in Darfur,” she stated. Following the RSF’s takeover of the main army base in El Geneina, the state capital of Sudan, people escaping to Chad have reported a new wave of ethnically motivated killings in West Darfur. (With agency inputs)