UN warns that the situation in Sudan is spiraling out of control
After seven months of war and the recent intensification of fighting between the army and paramilitaries, violence in Sudan resembles absolute evil, a senior UN official said this Friday (10). The situation in the Darfur region is particularly worrying.
Clementine NkwetaSalami, the UN humanitarian coordinator in the country, said the situation was dire and grim. “Frankly, we lack words to describe the horrors that are happening in Sudan,” she told a news conference.
She states that there are vicious reports of sexual and genderbased violence, enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests and serious violations of human and children’s rights.
She also said children were caught in the crossfire and that girls were being raped in front of their own mothers.
She also expressed concern about “disturbing reports of escalating violence and attacks against civilians, including apparently ethnicbased violence, in the Darfur region.”
When asked about the risks of a repeat of the genocide of the early 2000s in this region of western Sudan, she said she was very worried about it.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said in a press release that 20 years ago the world was moved by the horrific atrocities and human rights abuses in Darfur. It could be that a similar dynamic will repeat itself, he said.
“The immediate cessation of fighting and the unconditional respect of all parties for the civilian population are essential to prevent a new catastrophe,” he said.