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23-09-2023
UNITED NATIONS: Sudan’s army chief warned the United Nations that months of war in his country could spill over into the region, and he called for international pressure to be placed on the paramilitary forces he is fighting, including their designation as “terrorists”.
Army leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, speaking at the UN following a string of foreign trips, called on the international community on Thursday to designate the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) as a terrorist organization and to target its sponsors outside Sudan’s borders, an allusion to ties with Russia’s Wagner mercenaries.
“The danger of this war is now a threat to regional and international peace and security as those rebels have sought the support of outlaws and terrorist groups from different countries in the region and the world,” Burhan said.
“This is like the spark of war, a war that will spill over to other countries in the region,” he said.
“Regional and international interference to support these groups is crystal clear by now. This means that this is the first spark that will burn the region, and will have a direct impact on regional and international peace and security,” he added.
Fighting broke out in Sudan on April 15 after the collapse of a plan to integrate the army and the RSF, led by Burhan’s former deputy, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who is known as Hemedti.
Both sides blamed the other for starting the war that erupted in the capital Khartoum and has spread to other parts of the country including the western region of Darfur, killing at least 7,500, according to reports, displacing more than five million people and threatening to destabilize the region.
At the UN, Burhan urged world powers to designate the RSF as “terrorists”.
“They have committed all sorts of crimes that give grounds for such a designation,” he said.
“Those who have supported killing, burning, raping, forced displacement, looting, stealing, torture, trafficking of arms and drugs, bringing mercenaries or recruiting children, all such crimes necessitate accountability and punishment.”
In a video message released on Thursday, shortly before Burhan spoke at the UN, RSF leader Hemedti said his forces were fully prepared for a ceasefire and comprehensive political talks to end the conflict.
“Today, we renew our commitment to the peaceful process to put a halt to this war,” Hemedti said. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
