Latest news with #AbdelFattahAlBurhan
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
UN working for ceasefire in besieged Sudan city
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Friday he has been in contact with the warring sides in Sudan to try to reach a ceasefire in the besieged and starving city of El-Fasher. Sudan's army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has agreed in principle to such a humanitarian pause, his ruling Transitional Council said. But the opposing paramilitary side, led by al-Burhan's erstwhile deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, said it had received no truce proposal. Since April 2023, the army has been at war with Daglo's Rapid Support Forces, killing tens of thousands and tearing Africa's third-largest country in two. In the latest violence, paramilitary shelling of El-Fasher on Friday killed 13 people including three children, a medical source told AFP. Another 21 were injured. In a telephone conversation with al-Burhan, Guterres called for a weeklong ceasefire in El-Fasher to allow humanitarian aid to be delivered to civilians, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. The city has been besieged by the RSF for more than a year. "We are making contacts with both sides with that objective," Guterres told reporters. "We have a dramatic situation in El- Fasher," he said. "The people are starving in an extremely difficult situation, so we need to have an amount of time of truce for aid to be distributed, and you need to have it agreed with some days in advance to prepare a massive delivery in the El-Fasher." "I have a positive answer from General Burhan, and I am hopeful that both sides will understand how vital it is to avoid the catastrophe that we are witnessing in El-Fasher," he said. In a statement, the council that al-Burhan oversees said he had agreed to the truce proposal. But an RSF source told AFP Friday the paramilitary group had not received a ceasefire proposal. The RSF conquered nearly all of the vast western region of Darfur in the early months of the war, but has been unable to seize North Darfur state capital El-Fasher despite besieging the city for over a year. The UN has repeatedly warned of civilians trapped in the city with nearly no aid allowed in, and families forced to survive by eating leaves and peanut shells. At a Security Council meeting on Sudan on Friday, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Africa Martha Pobee suggested humanitarian pauses might be applied to other places in Sudan. "We are pursuing a predictable and time-bound humanitarian pause to facilitate safe humanitarian movements into and out of areas affected by ongoing fighting, beginning with El-Fasher, and allow civilians to leave voluntarily and securely," she said. Civilians report soaring prices and nearly all health facilities forced to shut due to fighting. A World Food Programme facility inside El-Fasher was damaged by repeated RSF shelling last month, and in early June five aid workers were killed in an attack on a UN convoy seeking to supply the city. The paramilitary has repeatedly attacked the city and its surrounding famine-hit displacement camps, killing hundreds of civilians and driving out hundreds of thousands of already displaced people. bur-abd/dw/acb


CTV News
5 days ago
- Politics
- CTV News
Risk of genocide in Sudan ‘very high': UN
In this June 22, 2019 file photo, a Sudanese soldier from the Rapid Support Forces or RSF, stands on his vehicle during a military-backed tribe's rally, in the East Nile province, Sudan. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File) Geneva, Switzerland -- The risk of genocide in Sudan's devastating civil war remains 'very high', amid ongoing ethnically motivated attacks by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, a top UN official warned Monday. Since April 2023, Sudan has been torn apart by a power struggle between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo. The fighting has killed tens of thousands and displaced 13 million, including four million who fled abroad, triggering what the United Nations has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis. 'Both parties have committed serious human rights violations,' said Virginia Gamba, a UN under secretary-general and acting special advisor to UN chief Antonio Guterres on the prevention of genocide. 'Of specific concern to my mandate is the continued and targeted attacks against certain ethnic groups, particularly in the Darfur and Kordofan regions,' she told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. She highlighted in particular that the RSF and allied armed Arab militias 'continue to conduct ethnically motivated attacks against the Zaghawa, Masalit and Fur groups'. 'The risk of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sudan remains very high,' Gamba warned. Her comments came after the top UN court last month threw out a case brought by Sudan against the United Arab Emirates over alleged complicity in genocide for allegedly supporting the RSF in the war -- accusations denied by the Emiratis. The International Court of Justice said it 'manifestly lacked' jurisdiction to rule on the case.


Al Jazeera
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Sudan's paramilitary RSF say they seized key zone bordering Egypt, Libya
Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have said their fighters have seized a strategic zone on the border with Egypt and Libya, as the regular government-aligned army, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), announced its withdrawal from the area. The announcements on Wednesday came a day after SAF accused forces loyal to eastern Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar of launching a cross-border attack alongside the RSF, the first allegation of direct Libyan involvement in the Sudanese war. 'As part of its defensive arrangements to repel aggression, our forces today evacuated the triangle area overlooking the borders between Sudan, Egypt and Libya,' army spokesperson Nabil Abdallah said in a statement. بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم القيادة العامة للقوات المسلحة تعميم صحفي الأربعاء ١١ يونيو ٢٠٢٥م في إطار ترتيباتها الدفاعية لصد العدوان، أخلت قواتنا اليوم منطقة المثلث المطلة علي الحدود بين السودان ومصر وليبيا. (نصر من الله وفتح قريب) مكتب الناطق الرسمي باسم القوات المسلحة General… — القوات المسلحة السودانية (@SudaneseAF) June 11, 2025Since April 2023, the brutal civil war has pitted SAF chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan against his erstwhile ally Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who leads the RSF, in a bitter power struggle. In a statement on Wednesday, the RSF said its fighters had 'liberated the strategic triangle area', adding that army forces had retreated southward 'after suffering heavy losses'. SAF said on Tuesday that Haftar's troops, in coordination with the RSF, attacked its border positions in a move it called 'a blatant aggression against Sudan'. Sudan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs also accused the United Arab Emirates of backing the assault, describing it as a 'dangerous escalation' and a 'flagrant violation of international law'. It also described the latest clash as part of a broader foreign-backed conspiracy. Haftar, who controls eastern Libya, has long maintained close ties with both the United Arab Emirates and Cairo has supported Sudan's leadership under Burhan since the war began in April 2023, Khartoum has repeatedly accused the UAE of supplying the RSF with weapons, which the Emirati government has denied. Tensions between Khartoum and Abu Dhabi escalated in May after drone strikes hit the wartime capital of Port Sudan for the first time since the outbreak of the war. After the attacks, Sudan severed its diplomatic ties with the UAE and declared it an 'aggressor state'. Since the war began more than two years ago, multiple countries have been drawn in. It has effectively split Sudan in two, with SAF holding the centre, east and north, including the capital Khartoum, while the paramilitaries and their allies control nearly all of Darfur and parts of the south. The fighting has killed tens of thousands and displaced 13 million, including four million who fled abroad, triggering what the United Nations has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Efforts by international mediators to halt the fighting have so far failed, with violence continuing to escalate across the western Darfur region and the Kordofan region in the country's south.


Arab News
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Sudan paramilitaries claim key zone bordering Egypt, Libya
KHARTOUM: Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces said Wednesday its fighters seized a strategic zone on the border with Egypt and Libya, as the regular army announced its withdrawal from the area. The announcements came a day after the army accused forces loyal to eastern Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar of launching a cross-border attack alongside the RSF, the first allegation of direct Libyan involvement in the Sudanese war. 'As part of its defensive arrangements to repel aggression, our forces today evacuated the triangle area overlooking the borders between Sudan, Egypt and Libya,' army spokesman Nabil Abdallah said in a statement. Since April 2023, the war in Sudan has pitted army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan against his erstwhile ally Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who leads the RSF. In a statement on Wednesday, the RSF said its fighters had 'liberated the strategic triangle area,' adding that army forces had retreated southward 'after suffering heavy losses.' The army said on Tuesday that Haftar's troops in coordination with the RSF attacked its border positions in a move it called 'a blatant aggression against Sudan.' The war has effectively split Sudan in two, with the army holding the center, east and north, while the paramilitaries and their allies control nearly all of Darfur and parts of the south. The fighting has killed tens of thousands and displaced 13 million, including four million who fled abroad, triggering what the United Nations has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Efforts by international mediators to halt the fighting have so far failed, with violence continuing to escalate across the western Darfur region and the Kordofan region in the country's south.


Al Arabiya
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
Sudan paramilitaries seize key zone bordering Egypt, Libya
Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces said Wednesday its fighters seized a strategic zone on the border with Egypt and Libya, as the regular army announced its withdrawal from the area. The announcements came a day after the army accused forces loyal to eastern Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar of launching a cross-border attack alongside the RSF, the first allegation of direct Libyan involvement in the Sudanese war. 'As part of its defensive arrangements to repel aggression, our forces today evacuated the triangle area overlooking the borders between Sudan, Egypt and Libya,' army spokesman Nabil Abdallah said in a statement. Since April 2023, the war in Sudan has pitted army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan against his erstwhile ally Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who leads the RSF. In a statement on Wednesday, the RSF said its fighters had 'liberated the strategic triangle area', adding that army forces had retreated southward 'after suffering heavy losses.' The army said on Tuesday that Haftar's troops in coordination with the RSF attacked its border positions in a move it called 'a blatant aggression against Sudan.' It also described the latest clash as part of a broader foreign-backed conspiracy. Haftar's forces could not be immediately reached for comment. The war has effectively split Sudan in two, with the army holding the centre, east and north, while the paramilitaries and their allies control nearly all of Darfur and parts of the south. The fighting has killed tens of thousands and displaced 13 million, including four million who fled abroad, triggering what the United Nations has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Efforts by international mediators to halt the fighting have so far failed, with violence continuing to escalate across the western Darfur region and the Kordofan region in the country's south.