American diplomatic chief Antony Blinken expressed alarm Thursday at information about an “imminent and large-scale attack” by Sudanese paramilitaries in El-Facher, the capital of North Darfur.
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“The United States is deeply concerned by reports of an impending large-scale attack by the Sudan Rapid Support Forces in El-Facher, North Darfur, which would expose civilians, including hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people. (…), in extreme danger,” Mr. Blinken said in a statement.
“The United States calls on the belligerents to immediately cease all further attacks in and around El Fasher in order to comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law towards civilians,” he added.
Washington did not name the source of the information cited, but the tone of his statement was unusually strong and came from the secretary of state himself.
The war between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhane’s regular forces and General Mohamed Hamdane Daglo’s FSR has claimed more than 9,000 lives and displaced more than 5.6 million people since April, according to a vastly underestimated UN report.
Representatives of the two generals visited Saudi Arabia last week, where they resumed negotiations under the auspices of Washington and Riyadh.
But there was fierce fighting in Darfur.
Previous attempts at mediation have only resulted in brief ceasefires, and even these have been systematically violated.