Sudan: UN urges immediate action to stop fighting in El Fasher

Both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), along with their allied militias, continue to flout international humanitarian and human rights laws, said Martha Pobee, Assistant Secretary-General for Africa at the UN Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA), while addressing the Security Council.

“Violations include summary executions, abductions and enforced disappearances, arbitrary and incommunicado detention of civilians by both parties, subjecting many to torture and other human rights violations,” she said.

She also raised deep concern over the shrinking civic space, ethnically motivated attacks and hate speech, and the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war, calling for immediate action to halt the fighting.

“A dangerous new reality has now emerged in the wake of the El Fasher escalation with grave and unpredictable ramifications. It risks a widening and entrenchment of the conflict, an even deeper ethnic polarization of Sudanese society and a further destabilization of the region,” she warned.

Situation in El Fasher

El Fasher, the provincial capital of North Darfur and a city of nearly one million people, has been a focal point of Sudan’s conflict. Despite repeated calls from the Security Council for a halt to the fighting, intense shelling and airstrikes have continued, devastating hospitals and civilian infrastructure.

The humanitarian situation there has steadily worsened, with over 700,000 internally displaced persons at immediate risk. Civilians, particularly women and children, face grave threats amid deteriorating access to health care and widespread food insecurity affecting 1.7 million people in the region.

Famine has been declared in the Zamzam camp, a site hosting around half a million people, on the outskirts of El Fasher, and there are 13 other localities identified at risk of famine in North Darfur.

It is only getting worse

Also briefing, Joyce Msuya, Acting Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, recalled that in February, the charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reported that a child was dying in the Zamzam camp every two hours.

“Latest screening by MSF and the Ministry of Health between 1 and 5 September indicates that the situation is only getting worse,” she said, noting that about 34 per cent of the children are malnourished, including 10 per cent severely malnourished

“The situation is being compounded by almost impassable obstacles to the delivery of humanitarian relief. Since May, roads into Zamzam and El Fasher have been rendered inaccessible by fighting around the city, and more recently by damage caused by heavy rains and floods,” she added.

We are not giving up

Despite the dire conditions, humanitarian efforts have not ceased.

“We have far from given up,” Ms. Msuya said, expressing hope that as floodwaters subside, supplies could finally reach El Fasher and other areas at risk of famine.

However, she stressed that de-escalation in the fighting remains critical. 

“Without safe, predictable access and a steady supply of food and humanitarian supplies, we will witness a dramatic spike in mortality – including among children – in Zamzam and other areas around El Fasher,” she warned.

UN efforts continues

In parallel with humanitarian efforts, the UN has been actively engaged on the political front to halt the violence and protect civilians across Sudan.

“The Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General for Sudan, Ramtane Lamamra, has been directly engaging the belligerent parties,” Ms. Pobee said, adding that this included participation in proximity talks in Geneva in July and support for mediation efforts led by the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Switzerland in August, in addition to visiting Port Sudan alongside the UN Deputy Secretary-General to further these efforts.

Additionally, Security Council resolution 2736 (2024) called for further recommendations on protecting civilians, which are currently being developed and will be presented in October.

Ms. Pobee emphasized that while the Sudanese Government bears the primary responsibility for protecting civilians, “it is incumbent upon all warring parties to respect and uphold their obligations under international human rights and humanitarian law.”

Stating that during the Geneva talks, the RSF submitted unilateral commitments to the Secretary-General to strengthen civilian protection, she underscored that “the RSF must live up to their own commitments and take steps to implement them without delay.”

“An agreement on a ceasefire would be the single-most effective way to strengthen civilian protection. This is true for El Fasher and all of the Sudan.”