Sudan’s warring parties must end their “unconscionable war” through dialogue, a senior US diplomat urged at a press briefing here on Tuesday, highlighting the acute suffering of refugees during a recent visit to camps at the border between Chad and Sudan.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the UN, also reiterated an earlier announcement that the US has committed over $160 million in new aid to assist Sudan’s refugees and host countries in the region. This brings the US aid package to about $710 million.
Thomas-Greenfield said during the briefing attended by the Arab News that she witnessed firsthand the plight of Sudan’s refugees during her tour of camps in the border town of Adre inside Chad last week.
“While in Adre, I saw this lifesaving work firsthand, including at an MSF (Doctors Without Borders) hospital where hundreds of children were being treated for acute malnutrition — children who were severely underweight, whose ankles were swollen from malnutrition, and who were too weak to speak or cry. It was perhaps one of the saddest experiences of my life,” she said.
She highlighted an earlier announcement that Washington has imposed new sanctions on those it holds responsible for committing atrocities against civilians in Darfur and other parts of Sudan.
The sanctions have targeted Abdelrahim Hamdan Dagalo, a senior commander in Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces and the brother of RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. She added that the US State Department has imposed visa restrictions on RSF general and West Darfur commander Abdul Rahman Juma for his alleged involvement in gross violations of human rights.
Thomas-Greenfield stressed that Washington had urged the parties to seek a resolution through dialogue. “We’re not supporting either side. We’re supporting the people of Sudan,” she said.
She called on the international community to work together to alleviate the suffering of Sudan’s refugees. “The United States cannot do this alone.”
“A crisis of this magnitude requires global cooperation, and right now the Humanitarian Response Plan for 2023 is less than 30 percent funded. I will continue to call on the international community to step up, just as I will continue to call on the international community to do everything possible to prevent and respond to mass atrocities and to hold those responsible for ongoing horrors in Sudan to account.”
Thomas-Greenfield said the US has encouraged countries and groups in the region to reengage with the warring parties in Sudan.
“We’re engaging with all of the parties in the region — the neighbors, the Arab League, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, African Union to bring all of the regional forces together to pressure the two parties to end this unconscionable war,” she said.
The fighting in Sudan erupted in April between troops loyal to Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, the head of Sudan’s regular army, and his former deputy Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, who commands the RSF, a heavily armed militia which was previously aligned with the army.
The UN and Sudanese officials have over the past few months warned of a major humanitarian disaster because of the conflict.
More than 3.6 million people have been displaced within Sudan’s borders and another 950,000 are seeking safety in neighboring countries — notably Chad,
Egypt, South Sudan, the Central African Republic and Ethiopia, according to the UN.
Countries in the region have failed repeatedly to get the warring parties to sign a peace agreement.