With famine impending, human rights violations on the rise, and fighting escalating between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, senior United Nations officials and a women’s rights activist have called on the international community to work towards an immediate ceasefire in Sudan.
Addressing the Security Council, Edem Wosornu, Director of Operations and Advocacy at the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, underscored the humanitarian emergency gripping the country. She emphasized that after 14 months of conflict, the lives of 800,000 people hang in the balance, with 130,000 displaced since April 1st.
“Sudan continues to spiral into chaos,” Wosornu stated, highlighting that El Fasher is merely the epicenter of widespread devastation affecting Darfur, Kordofan, Khartoum, and Aj Jazirah States. She warned that “famine is imminent,” with over 2 million people in 41 hunger hotspots at high risk of slipping into catastrophic hunger. The next few weeks are critical for delivering life-saving supplies before the rainy season exacerbates the situation.
Wosornu also drew attention to the grave human rights violations, including rampant conflict-related sexual violence and rising suicide rates among survivors. She issued three key appeals: protect civilians and infrastructure, ensure humanitarian access, and provide increased funding for the aid operation, while stressing that “the ultimate ask” is for the conflict to end.
Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee, Assistant Secretary-General for Africa in the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations, lamented that efforts to prevent the escalation of violence in Sudan have failed. She called for an immediate ceasefire and urged external players to use their influence to halt the fighting. Despite mediation efforts, including those by the Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy Ramtane Lamamra, securing a ceasefire remains elusive.
Limiaa Ahmed, Senior Programme Director at the Sudan Family Planning Association, highlighted the dire situation of women and girls in the war. She described the conflict as a war on women, noting that they face sexual violence and exploitation in displacement, transit, shelters, and at border crossings. In areas controlled by the Rapid Support Forces, women have been abducted and held in “inhumane and degrading slave-like conditions.”
The briefing underscores the urgent need for international action to address the catastrophic humanitarian crisis in Sudan and protect the lives and rights of its civilians.
