United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed to the Security Council on Monday for its support to help protect civilians in war-torn Sudan, but said conditions are not right for deployment of a UN force.
The people of Sudan are living through a nightmare of violence - with thousands of civilians killed, and countless others facing unspeakable atrocities, including widespread rape and sexual assaults, Guterres told the 15-member council.
War erupted in mid-April 2023 from a power struggle between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces ahead of a planned transition to civilian rule and triggered the worlds largest displacement crisis.
Sudan is, once again, rapidly becoming a nightmare of mass ethnic violence, Guterres said, referring to a conflict in Sudans Darfur region about 20 years ago that led to the International Criminal Court charging former Sudanese leaders with genocide and crimes against humanity.
The current war has produced waves of ethnically driven violence blamed largely on the RSF. The RSF killed at least 124 people in a village in El Gezira State on Friday, activists said, in one of the conflicts deadliest incidents.
