UN Security Council urges Sudan's warring parties to immediately cease hostilities

UNITED NATIONS

The UN Security Council on Friday urged Sudan's warring parties to immediately cease hostilities and establish a permanent ceasefire.

The 15-member council expressed deep concern over the continued military clashes between the Sudanese army and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in a joint statement.

The conflict-hit African nation has been engulfed by violence for weeks.

The Council strongly condemned all attacks on the civilian population, UN and associated personnel and humanitarian actors, as well as civilian objects, medical personnel and facilities, and the looting of humanitarian supplies.

Earlier, UN aid agency OCHA, said that it continues to receive reports that humanitarian assets and facilities in Sudan are being looted, despite the parties' commitments.

The targeting of humanitarian assets is "outrageous" and must stop now, said UN aid chief Martin Griffiths.

The warehouses of the World Food Programme (WFP) and UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) were ransacked, in El Obeid and two offices of the UNHCR were looted in Khartoum, OCHA said in a statement.

The Council called on all parties to ensure rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian access throughout Sudan.

It also reaffirmed its support to the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS) and urged its continued engagement, in full accordance with the principles of national ownership.

More than 700 people have been killed, including 190 children, and 6,000 others injured, according to the UN.

Over 1 million residents have been displaced and over 840,000 have sought shelter in rural areas and other states while another 250,000 have crossed Sudanese borders.

Disagreement had been fomenting in recent months between the two sides about integration of the RSF into the armed forces -- a key condition of Sudan's transition agreement with political groups.

Sudan has been without a functioning government since fall 2021, when the military dismissed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok's transitional government and declared a state of emergency in a move decried by political forces as a "coup."

The transitional period, which started in August 2019 after the ouster of President Omar al-Bashir, had been scheduled to end with elections in early 2024.