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  • UAE welcomes UNSC resolution calling for ceasefire in Sudan

    UAE welcomes UNSC resolution calling for ceasefire in Sudan

    Tens of thousands of people have since been killed, 8.3 million have been forcibly displaced and the fighting has additionally destroyed infrastructure and crippled the economy…reports Asian Lite News

    The UAE has welcomed the UN Security Council resolution which calls for a ceasefire in Sudan during Ramadan, in light of the continued deterioration of the humanitarian situation.

    In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) expressed hope that this step would lead towards ending the crisis between the Sudanese parties, preventing further suffering of the Sudanese people, and facilitating the arrival of relief and humanitarian aid to the affected areas, especially for the most vulnerable groups, including the sick, children, the elderly and women.

    The Ministry underscored its steadfast support for all endeavours working towards de-escalation, achieving a ceasefire, and initiating political dialogue, that facilitates the restoration of peace, safety and security and fulfils the aspirations of the brotherly Sudanese people for stability and prosperity.

    Amid the prevailing violence in Sudan, the United Nations Security Council called for a ceasefire to coincide with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and allow aid to reach 25 million people in ‘desperate need of food’ with the humanitarian response at breaking point, Al Jazeera reported on Saturday.

    According to the report, fourteen countries on the 15-member council on Friday backed the resolution proposed by the United Kingdom, with only Russia abstained on the vote that called on “all parties to the conflict to seek a sustainable resolution to the conflict through dialogue.”

    Fighting has been raging in Sudan since April 15, 2023, pitting the army of General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of General Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo.

    Tens of thousands of people have since been killed, 8.3 million have been forcibly displaced and the fighting has additionally destroyed infrastructure and crippled the economy.

    Britain’s deputy UN ambassador, James Kariuki, urged the Sudanese Armed Forces and the RSF “to act on this united international call for peace and to silence the guns”.

    The resolution called on all sides to adopt an immediate “cessation of hostilities” ahead of Ramadan, a time for fasting, prayer and reflection for Muslims worldwide.

    It urged the warring parties to allow “unhindered” humanitarian access across borders and battlelines.

    The resolution also expressed “grave concern over the spreading violence and the catastrophic and deteriorating humanitarian situation, including crisis levels, or worse, of acute food insecurity, particularly in Darfur”.

    UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Thursday that both sides should “honour the values of Ramadan by honouring a Ramadan cessation of hostilities” as he warned that the conflict threatens Sudan’s unity and “could ignite regional instability of dramatic proportions.”

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  • Rights abuses threaten South Sudan’s stability, warns UN

    Rights abuses threaten South Sudan’s stability, warns UN

    Women and girls have been particularly targeted, the report said, while abductions have become a “troubling exploitative enterprise.”…reports Asian Lite News

    Mass violence and gross human rights violations in South Sudan continue unabated ahead of landmark elections due to take place in December, a report by the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan has warned.

    Patterns of violence, violations and entrenched impunity continue to blight the lives of an extremely vulnerable population, the report said, warning that the already dire humanitarian situation in the country will deteriorate further.

    The elections, the first since independence from Sudan in 2011, should signify a milestone in efforts to secure a lasting peace since the end of the civil war which raged in South Sudan from 2013, killing some 400,000 people. A peace deal was agreed in 2018 but implementation has been sluggish and violence persists in parts of the country.

    The report presented to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva Friday said the elections face severe political and logistical challenges, and the post-election legal framework remains uncertain.

    Crucial steps in the 2018 peace agreement, including the the adoption of a permanent constitution, the unification of armed forces, and the establishment of transitional justice institutions, “remain outstanding or incomplete,” the report said.

    “Time is running out for South Sudan’s leaders to implement key commitments, which are the building blocks for peace, for holding the country together, and advancing human rights beyond the elections,” said Commissioner Barney Afako.

    The elections were supposed to take place in early 2023 but were postponed for 18 months, following earlier delays.

    Nation and state-building efforts have faltered, while predation and repression have been entrenched, according to the report, adding that even as insurgency persists, violence is being instigated by political and military elites.

    Women and girls have been particularly targeted, the report said, while abductions have become a “troubling exploitative enterprise.”

    South Sudanese children are routinely denied access to health and education entitlements, going hungry, with adverse impacts on the country’s future, the report revealed.

    The Commission also found that the armed forces were still using child soldiers. In 2019, the year after the peace agreement, the U.N. found there were still more than 19,000 child soldiers in South Sudan, one of the highest rates in the world.

    “The drivers of violence and repression are well known, and while commitments have been made to address them, we continue to see a lack of political will to implement the measures necessary to improve millions of lives,”said Yasmin Sooka, chair of the commission.

    South Sudan’s immediate and long-term future hinges on political leaders finally making good on their commitments to bring peace, and reverse cyclical human rights violations, Sooka said.

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  • 700,000 children in Sudan at risk of malnutrition

    700,000 children in Sudan at risk of malnutrition

    Catherine Russell, the executive director of UNICEF, echoed Elder’s comments. The “lethal combination of malnutrition, mass displacement, and disease” is quickly growing, she warned in a statement…reports Asian Lite News

    At least 700,000 children in Sudan are likely to suffer from the worst form of malnutrition this year, and tens of thousands could die, the United Nations children’s agency has warned.

    A 10-month war in Sudan between its armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has devastated the country’s infrastructure, prompted warnings of famine and displaced millions of people inside and outside the country.

    “The consequences of the past 300 days means that more than 700,000 children are likely to suffer from the deadliest form of malnutrition this year,” James Elder, spokesperson for UNICEF, told a press conference in Geneva on Friday.

    “UNICEF won’t be able to treat more than 300,000 of those without improved access and without additional support. In that case, tens of thousands would likely die.”

    Elder defined the most dangerous form of malnutrition as severe acute malnutrition, which makes a child more likely to die from diseases such as cholera and malaria. He said 3.5 million children were projected to suffer severe acute malnutrition.

    UNICEF provides “ready-to-use therapeutic food”, or RUTF, a life-saving food item that treats severe wasting in children under five years old, to Sudan.

    Elder said there had also been a “500 percent increase” in just one year in murders, sexual violence and recruitment of children to fight.

    “That equates to terrifying numbers of children killed, raped or recruited. And these numbers are the tip of the iceberg,” he said, reiterating the urgent need for a ceasefire, and for more aid.

    Catherine Russell, the executive director of UNICEF, echoed Elder’s comments. The “lethal combination of malnutrition, mass displacement, and disease” is quickly growing, she warned in a statement.

    “We need safe, sustained, and unimpeded humanitarian access across conflict lines and across borders – and we need international support to help sustain the essential services and systems that children rely on for survival,” she said.

    UNICEF is appealing for $840m to help slightly more than 7.5 million children in Sudan this year, but Elder deplored the lack of funds collected in previous appeals.

    “Despite the magnitude of needs, last year, the funding UNICEF sought for nearly three-quarters of children in Sudan was not forthcoming,” Elder said.

    The UN on Wednesday urged countries not to forget the civilians caught up in the war in Sudan, appealing for $4.1bn to meet their humanitarian needs and support those who have fled to neighbouring countries.

    Half of Sudan’s population – approximately 25 million people – need humanitarian assistance and protection, while more than 1.5 million people have fled to the Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia and South Sudan, according to the UN.

    “The world needs to stop turning a blind eye,” he said. “Where is our collective humanity if we allow this situation to continue.”

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  • 38 people killed in communal clashes in South Sudan

    38 people killed in communal clashes in South Sudan

    A police spokesperson for Lakes state, Maj. Elijah Mabor Makuach, said 19 of the dead and 17 of the wounded were civilians from Warrap state and 19 of the dead and 35 wounded were from Lakes state…reports Asian Lite News

    Residents of a swampy area in central South Sudan battled with cattle herders who moved in looking for water and pasture during the dry season, and at least 38 people were killed and 52 suffered gunshot wounds, officials said Thursday.

    The fighting started Wednesday and tensions remained high Thursday night, with officials reporting “minor clashes” and apprehension over revenge attacks in the remote area.

    The information minister of Warrap state, William Wol Mayom, said fighting took place in the Alor area, which is in Lakes state and borders both Warrap and Unity states.

    Mayom said security forces had been sent to calm the situation and to move the cattle herders away from the disputed wet lands.

    “The violence has been de-escalated, but minor clashes are still being reported in inaccessible swampy areas and casualties cannot be fully verified,” Mayom said.

    A police spokesperson for Lakes state, Maj. Elijah Mabor Makuach, said 19 of the dead and 17 of the wounded were civilians from Warrap state and 19 of the dead and 35 wounded were from Lakes state.

    Makuach said young herders from Warrap migrated to the Alor area with their cattle two weeks ago and began burning brush and the temporary shelters of residents. He said the herders were looking for pasture and water in the swampy lands of Alor.

    The bloodshed came four days after at least 52 people, including a UN peacekeeper, were killed and 64 wounded by gunmen who attacked villagers in Abyei, an oil-rich region that is claimed by both Sudan and South Sudan. Officials said that violence also arose from a dispute over land.

    South Sudan won its independence from Sudan in 2011 after more than 39 years of war and then plunged into a ruinous internal conflict from 2013 to 2018 that stagnated development. Many guns remain in the hands of civilians who fought in the conflicts.

    ALSO READ-US deplores holdups on aid into Sudan

  • US deplores holdups on aid into Sudan

    US deplores holdups on aid into Sudan

    The United States in September announced $130 million in new assistance to Sudan….reports Asian Lite News

    The United States on Wednesday implored Sudan’s authorities to let aid into the country, denouncing holdups as the war between rival generals leaves millions in need of help.

    Samantha Power, administrator of the US Agency for International Development, said that funding for Sudan’s crisis “remains shockingly low,” with around 25 million people, or more than half of the population, in need of assistance.

    But she said that even the aid that arrives faces obstacles due to “ill-disciplined or rapacious” forces on the ground, and bureaucracy “mastered through decades of practice at being obstructionist.”

    “Sudan continues to present some of the toughest conditions for humanitarian access in the entire world, and that is saying something,” she said at the US Institute of Peace.

    “Unconscionably, supplies are actually there — stuck at the border or in the Port of Sudan as permits to move aid into the country continue to be denied,” she said.

    “The fact that a permit could stand in the way of supplies reaching people with life-or-death needs and conditions is horrifying,” she said.

    Power said that small-scale local and diaspora groups have filled the vacuum and acknowledged that USAID took “far too long” to channel assistance through them.

    “If these relief networks were to collapse, millions of Sudanese civilians would be left with no assistance at all. To prevent that from happening, these groups need more resources,” she said.

    The United States in September announced $130 million in new assistance to Sudan.

    Violence broke out in April last year between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) as they failed to agree on merging as part of a now-derailed transition to democracy.

    The war has killed at least 13,000 people, according to a conservative estimate by the Conflict Location and Event Data project, and displaced more than seven million people, according to the United Nations.

    The United States and Saudi Arabia led negotiations between the two sides but to little avail, and Washington has increasingly turned to pressure to coax them.

    The Treasury Department said Wednesday it was blocking any assets and criminalizing US transactions with the Alkhaleej Bank, which has been an “essential part” of funding for the RSF.

    The bank allegedly received $50 million from the country’s central bank immediately before the war broke out.

    Also targeted were the Zadna International Company for Development, allegedly used for money laundering and commercial operations of the army, and Al-Fakher Advanced Works, which the Treasury Department said has helped generate millions of dollars through gold exports for the RSF, allowing the paramilitary group to buy weapons.

    “The United States will continue to use the tools at our disposal to end this devastating war, promote accountability and help the Sudanese people realize their demands for freedom, peace, and justice,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.

    Earlier this week, the United States offered a reward of up to $5 million for the arrest of a former Sudanese official, Ahmed Harun, who escaped prison and is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes in Darfur.

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  • UN steps up support for IDPs, returnees in South Sudan

    UN steps up support for IDPs, returnees in South Sudan

    According to the IOM, inflation in South Sudan has heavily impacted markets across the country, leading to a rapid increase in the prices of essential commodities, including food…reports Asian Lite News

    The International Organisation for Migration (IOM), a UN migration agency, has said that it has stepped up cash-based assistance to more than 4,488 vulnerable returnees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) fleeing the fighting in Sudan into South Sudan.

    The IOM said on Wednesday that the assistance backed by a $5-million grant from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) aims to address their urgent basic needs like food, transportation, shelter, and sanitation, and it also contributes to an increase in household savings that will help the families’ (re)settlement.

    “The conflict in Sudan has affected the already fragile economic outlook of South Sudan, particularly for northern states that rely heavily on imports from Sudan, leading to an increase in food prices and fuel costs and exacerbating protection risks, food insecurity, and negative coping mechanisms,” said John McCue, IOM South Sudan acting chief of Mission, in a statement issued in Juba, the capital of South Sudan.

    The UN agency said it has partnered with South Sudan to implement the $5-million project by providing cash-based assistance to the vulnerable returnees and IDPs in South Sudan, Xinhua news agency reported.

    More than 480,000 individuals have fled from Sudan to South Sudan since the outbreak of fighting in Sudan on April 15, 2023, according to the UN.

    The IOM said the vast majority of them are returning South Sudanese, who have lost everything they owned during the fighting, and are now returning to areas with limited essential services and into communities with limited coping capacities.

    According to the IOM, inflation in South Sudan has heavily impacted markets across the country, leading to a rapid increase in the prices of essential commodities, including food.

    “The project’s overall objective was to support the efforts of the government of South Sudan in addressing acute humanitarian needs of the vulnerable displaced population, including returnees fleeing from the Sudan crisis, through providing cash-based assistance,” McCue added.

    The IOM said the six-month cash-based intervention project that started in June through December 2023 included one-time vouchers and cash assistance for transportation to areas of return and multipurpose cash assistance and in-kind assistance.

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  • Sudan’s Army Chief Sets Firm Tone, Rules Out Paramilitary Reconciliation

    Sudan’s Army Chief Sets Firm Tone, Rules Out Paramilitary Reconciliation

    On January 2, the RSF and the Taqaddum signed the “Addis Ababa Declaration” to stop the war in Sudan….reports Asian Lite News

    Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan has ruled out reconciliation with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and vowed to continue fighting.

    “There is no reconciliation or agreement with the rebels. We will fight until the militia ends, or we end,” Al-Burhan said in a video speech posted by the sovereign council on its Telegram account late Friday.

    “Our battle continues until every site in Sudan is restored,” said the SAF commander.

    Al-Burhan welcomed the “Sudanese Popular Resistance” campaign.

    “We welcome the popular resistance, and we will arm them, but the weapons must be legalised and registered by the armed forces,” he said.

    He however, criticized the recently signed declaration between the RSF and Coordination of Civilian Democratic Forces (Taqaddum), a political coalition led by former Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.

    “The politicians who signed an agreement with RSF made a mistake by talking to rebels,” said Al-Burhan, noting that “the politicians’ agreement with the RSF is unacceptable and valueless”.

    On January 2, the RSF and the Taqaddum signed the “Addis Ababa Declaration” to stop the war in Sudan.

    According to the declaration, the RSF is prepared to immediately and unconditionally cease hostilities through direct talks with the Sudanese army.

    The two parties to the declaration also stressed that sustainable peace in Sudan must be based on ending the multiplicity of armies and forming one professional army.

    Sudan has been witnessing deadly clashes between the SAF and the RSF since April 15, 2023.

    More than 12,000 people have been killed in the fighting and 33,000 others injured, according to UN figures.

    As of last month, over 5.8 million were internally displaced and more than 1.5 million others had fled the country as refugees.

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  • WHO sounds warning on Sudan health crisis

    WHO sounds warning on Sudan health crisis

    Since the conflict broke out in April, the violence has killed more than 12,000 people, according to a conservative estimate by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project…reports Asian Lite News

    The WHO called for urgent action Friday to tackle the deepening health and humanitarian crises in Sudan and asked the international community to step up with financial aid.

    Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organization, said the majority of health facilities in Sudanese regions affected by the war were not working, due to the fighting.

    Since April 15, Sudan has been gripped by a war pitting army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan against his former deputy, paramilitary Rapid Support Forces commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

    In Al-Jazira state, just south of Khartoum, more than half a million people had sought shelter after the fighting overwhelmed the Sudanese capital.

    This month, however, paramilitaries pressed deeper into the state and shattered one of the country’s few remaining sanctuaries, forcing more than 300,000 people to flee once again, the United Nations said.

    “Urgent action is needed to reverse Sudan’s worsening conflict amid the deepening humanitarian and health crises, with the fresh displacement of hundreds of thousands of people, mainly women and children,” Tedros said on X, formerly Twitter.

    Since the conflict broke out in April, the violence has killed more than 12,000 people, according to a conservative estimate by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project.

    “While responding with partners to the acute health needs, including controlling disease spread and addressing malnutrition threats, WHO also calls for increased financial support from the international community to meet the pressing health needs of the affected populations,” said Tedros.

    “These include boosting provision of basic health services for the most vulnerable in affected states, where at least 70 percent of health facilities are not working due to the conflict,” he added.

    The United Nations says at least 7.1 million people have been displaced, including 1.5 million who fled across the border into neighboring countries.

    Former Ethiopian health minister Tedros has led the UN’s health agency since 2017.

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  • No Peace Without RSF Withdrawal: Sudan’s Army Chief

    No Peace Without RSF Withdrawal: Sudan’s Army Chief

    Sudan has been witnessing deadly clashes between the SAF and the RSF since April 15….reports Asian Lite News

    Sudan’s army Chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan has said the army would not sign any peace agreement that does not include the withdrawal of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) from public facilities and citizens’ homes.

    Al-Burhan, also the chairman of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereign Council, made the remarks when addressing officers and soldiers in eastern Sudan’s Red Sea State, the sovereign council said on Thursday in a statement as quoted by Xinhua news agency report.

    South Sudanese troops arrive in Congo under EAC regional force mandate.(Photo:Twitter)

    “We will not sign a peace agreement that embodies humiliation for the armed forces and the Sudanese people,” Al-Burhan added.

    “Any agreement must include a ceasefire and withdrawal of the rebels from public facilities, hospitals, and citizens’ homes,” he noted, adding that the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) would keep fighting to defeat the “rebel militia”.

    Sudan has been witnessing deadly clashes between the SAF and the RSF since April 15. More than 12,000 people have been killed in the fighting, according to a statement by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in early December.

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  • UN agency warns of food ‘catastrophe’ in Sudan

    UN agency warns of food ‘catastrophe’ in Sudan

    The UN has recorded seven million people displaced across Sudan, which, combined with the lack of good harvests, means hunger stalks large parts of the country…reports Asian Lite News

    The World Food Programme warned on Wednesday that Sudan faces a “hunger catastrophe” if it cannot deliver regular food aid there, eight months after fighting erupted between rival generals.

    “Parts of war-ravaged Sudan are at a high risk of slipping into catastrophic hunger conditions by next year’s lean season,” the WFP said in a statement.

    It said this could happen if the UN agency is unable to expand access and deliver regular food assistance to people trapped in conflict hotspots including the capital Khartoum.

    On April 15, army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), turned their guns on each other.

    Two years after the former allies jointly engineered a 2021 coup that derailed a fragile democratic transition, their power struggle has killed more than 12,190 people, according to a conservative estimate by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project.

    The United Nations has recorded seven million people displaced across Sudan, which, combined with the lack of good harvests, means hunger stalks large parts of the African country.

    The vast Darfur region in the west and Kordofan in the south, as well as the capital Khartoum, where the conflict first erupted, are at risk.

    “Nearly 18 million people across Sudan are facing acute hunger … more than double the number at the same time a year ago,” the WFP said on Wednesday.

    A new food analysis for Sudan, “once described as East Africa’s future breadbasket,” the statement said, “shows the highest levels of hunger ever recorded during the harvest season (October through February), typically a period where more food is available.”

    On Sunday, the head of the UN’s humanitarian response in Sudan told AFP the world body had been able to reach only a fraction of the nearly 25 million people needing aid.

    But assistance to even those four million could soon stop if the chronic lack of funding continues, Clementine Nkweta-Salami said in an interview.

    WFP Country Director and Representative in Sudan Eddie Rowe said on Wednesday it was urgently calling “on all parties to the conflict for a humanitarian pause and unfettered access to avert a hunger catastrophe.”

    However, getting the warring parties to negotiate remains difficult, and both sides have been blamed for breaking truces agreed in the past.

    And on December 1, at the request of the Sudanese authorities, the UN Security Council ended the world body’s political mission in the country.

    The United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan was put in place in 2020 to help support a move to democracy following the fall the previous year of veteran Islamist autocrat Omar Al-Bashir.

    Meanwhile, Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces battled the army outside the central city of Wad Madani on Saturday, pressing an attack that has opened a new front in the eight-month-old war and forced thousands to flee, witnesses said.

    Crowds of people — many of whom had taken refuge in the city from violence in the capital Khartoum — could be seen packing up their belongings and leaving on foot in video posted on social media.

    “The war has followed us to Madani so I am looking for a bus so me and my family can flee,” 45-year-old Ahmed Salih told Reuters by phone.

    “We are living in hell and there is no one to help us.” He said he planned to head south to Sennar.

    Sudan’s army, which has held the city since the start of the conflict, launched air strikes on RSF forces to the east of the city, the capital of Gezira state, as it tried to push back the assault that started on Friday, witnesses said.

    The RSF responded with artillery and RSF reinforcements were seen moving in the direction of the fighting, the witnesses added.

    RSF soldiers have also been seen in villages to the north and west of the city in recent days and weeks, residents said.

    The United Nations said 14,000 people had fled the area so far, and a few thousand had already reached other cities. Half a million people had sought refuge in Gezira, mainly from Khartoum.

    The Sudanese Doctors Union warned in a statement that hospitals in the area, which had become a humanitarian and medical hub, were emptying out and could be forced to shut.

    It also said that more than 340 children and staff relocated from the Maygoma orphanage in Khartoum were in need of urgent help relocating.

    The fighting has raised fears for other army-held cities in southern and eastern Sudan where tens of thousands of people have been sheltering. “I urge the RSF to refrain from attacks and for all parties to protect civilians at all costs. Perpetrators of terror will be held accountable,” the US Ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said.

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