SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: PassBlue - Sudan Steps Up Damning Accusations Against the UAE at the UN

15/6/2024: Pass Blue - Sudan Steps Up Damning Accusations Against the UAE at the UN, by Damilola Banjo

Two summarys

1. UAE silencing Sudan at the UN

PassBlue report that Sudan’s UN ambassador Al-Harith Idriss accuses the UAE of using its influence on the UN Security Council (UNSC) to avoid accountability for supporting the Rapid Support militia (RSF).

When the UAE was an elected member of the UNSC from January 2022 to December 2023 it “kept Sudan off the agenda”. Sudan’s requests for open emergency meetings in April and May 2024 were rebuffed by monthly rotating presidents Malta and Mozambique respectively, who held private consultations meaning Idriss could not participate.

Malta said it was because the Sudanese ambassador sent his request in Arabic. PassBlue note that the UNSC has no written rule on language requirements.

Analyst Cameron Hudson said: “We have underestimated the destructive and irresponsible power of the UAE [who] used the fact that it controls five major ports in Mozambique to make sure that Mozambique did not host a meeting investigating allegations against the UAE.”

2. Hudson insights on diplomatic efforts to stop the war

PassBlue reported on diplomatic efforts to stop the war in Sudan, with insights from Cameron Hudson of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

With army commander Abdulfattah al-Burhan refusing to resume the US-Saudi brokered Jeddah peace talks, Hudson said: “there is a higher bar set for the Army than for the [Rapid Support Forces]…unfairly, there’s an expectation that the armed forces is the party that needs to uphold all of these standards because we hold the government of Sudan responsible for…what happens inside the country”. 

With Hudson adding that the UN Security Council resolution to end the RSF siege on Al-Fashir “comes much too late to save many [who have and] will die because of the existing conditions.”

PassBlue noted that the resolution did not call out the UAE, who Sudan’s government say has provided weapons used to displace and kill predominantly non-Arab groups and rape hundreds of women.

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: AFP - US to send more food aid to Sudan, warning of a risk of historic famine

15/6/2024: AFP - US to send more food aid to Sudan, warning of a risk of historic famine

AFP report that the US announced another $315 million for hungry Sudanese.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the UN said: “we’ve seen mortality projections estimating that in excess of 2.5 million people – about 15% of the population – in Darfur and Kordofan, the hardest-hit regions, could die by the end of September,”

USAID administrator Samantha Power said Sudan could be in worse shape than Somalia in 2011 when 250,000 people died after three consecutive seasons without enough rain.

“The most worrying scenario would be that Sudan would become the deadliest famine since Ethiopia in the early 1980s,” when as many as 1.2 million people died, she said.

Power said the Rapid Support militia (RSF) has been “systematically looting humanitarian warehouses, stealing food and livestock, destroying grain storage facilities and wells in the most vulnerable Sudanese communities,” with army accused of blocking aid from crossing the border with Chad into Darfur.

SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: BBC - Millions in daily struggle to find food as Sudan war rages

15/6/2024: BBC - Millions in daily struggle to find food as Sudan war rages, by James Copnall

The BBC report that, alongside the lack of food in Sudan, the remaining food is “punishingly expensive”.

Food security expert Timmo Gaasbeek said about 70% of the population could be “extremely hungry” by September, potentially leading to 2.5 to 4 million deaths.

Amgad Farid of Fikra Studies think-tank identified contributing factors including the Rapid Support militia (RSF) seizing al-Jazira state “which has the biggest agricultural scheme in Sudan, and produced a lot of our daily needs,” alongside the decline of food imports due to inflation.

Justin Brady, head of the UN's humanitarian body (Ocha) in Sudan, said the international community has not provided the funds help those in need.

Alex de Waal of the World Peace Foundation said that the warring parties “use starvation as a weapon of war” with the RSF “essentially a looting machine” and the army “trying to starve areas under RSF control”.

SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies - Darfur: Sudanese authorities must urgently put in place measures to protect civilians from arbitrary attacks by armed militias

15/6/2020: African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies - Darfur: Sudanese authorities must urgently put in place measures to protect civilians from arbitrary attacks by armed militias

 The African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) call on the Sudanese transitional government, the joint UN-AU Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) and the International community to protect civilians in Darfur who face a “surge of targeted attacks…since May 2020”.

 ACJPS call for the government to publicly condemn the “arbitrary” attacks and “make it clear that… perpetrators will be held to account.”

 ACJPS also suggest concerted efforts to control and tighten restrictions on arms and ammunitions in Darfur, alongside controls over the presence of militias and weapons in public places.

 Adding that UNAMID’s capacity has been “threatened by the significant drawdown in its military and police officers,” ACJPS call for UNAMID to fulfil its mandate to protect civilians “under imminent threat of physical violence.”

Finally, ACJPS call for the EU, US, UN and African Union to support the government in meeting its international humanitarian legal obligations.

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Radio Dabanga - Unamid sends reinforcements to Darfur camp

15/6/2020: Radio Dabanga - Unamid sends reinforcements to Darfur camp

 Radio Dabanga report that the joint UN-AU Mission in Darfur (Unamid) sent reinforcements to Kalma camp for the displaced near Nyala, capital of South Darfur, to prevent escalation after two people were killed.

The head of Unamid, Joint Special Representative/Joint Chief Mediator Jeremiah Mamabolo reportedly commended the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) efforts to prevent fighting in Kalma, following a meeting with RSF Commander Himedti.

 Unamid said it will provide a mediator to enable the judicial agencies to conduct an investigation, arrest the perpetrators, and bring them to justice.

SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: BBC – Rape and Sudan’s revolution: ‘They were crying and screaming

15/6/19: BBC – Rape and Sudan’s revolution: ‘They were crying and screaming’, by Catherine Byaruhanga

 In a feature piece, the witnesses told the BBC about the RSF’s exporting their usage of rape as a weapon of war from Darfur to Khartoum.

 Sulaima Ishaq Sharif, who heads a trauma centre at Afhad University,said that the rapes are “all about degradation, humiliation and beating of the spirit.” She added that the number of rapes is likely to be higher than reported due to social stigmas.

 An anonymous male witness recalls being shot at by RSF soldiers when trying to intervene during a raping, and then they attempted to rape him as well after confronting the rapists.

 An anonymous ambulance driver said he saw the fighters argue over who would get to rape a dead woman.

SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Economist – A struggle for power in Sudan could lead to civil war

15/6/19: Economist – A struggle for power in Sudan could lead to civil war

 The Economist’s feature piece examines the possibility of civil war in Sudan, amid signs of splits within the ruling military junta between the regular armed forces and the RSF.

 The Economist note that many army officers regard the RSF as “an ill-disciplined mob.”

 It is unclear where former National Security and Intelligence Service (NISS) chief Salah Gosh’s loyalties lie, although NISS is said to loathe the RSF and their commander Himedti, for “betraying” former president Omar Al Bashir.

 Although many army generals think a political settle with protesters is the best hope of preventing civil war, “elements within the junta want to turn back the clock” and impose military rule, according to the International Crisis Group’s Murithi Mutiga.

 The article concludes with Sudan expert Alex de Waal’s likening Sudan’s potential situation to the proxy war in Yemen, if Qatar, Turkey and Iran try to regain their influence in Sudan.

SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Economist – How to stop Sudan sliding to civil war

15/6/19: Economist – How to stop Sudan sliding to civil war

 The Economist call for the US to persuade Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the UAE to “work together to defuse the time-bomb in Khartoum,” and press for power sharing agreement in Sudan, led by civilians but with armed forces representation – citing the “reasonably” successful example of post-2014 Burkina Faso revolution.

 Amid “dislike and distrust” between the army, the RSF and the intelligence service, matters are “complicated” by Egypt supporting the army because it “hates the idea of a bloodthirsty militia (the RSF) with Islamist ties ruling its neighbor,” whereas Saudi Arabia and the UAE back the RSF for their role in Yemen.

 The Economist call for the US to persuade those Arab states of their common interests in keeping Sudan stable, and keeping out their regional rivals.

 In addition, “donors should be poised to help any…effort to move towards…civilian rule.”

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: AP - Sudan says military council suspends decree on UN sites

15/6/19: AP – Sudan says military council suspends decree on UN sites, by Edith M. Lederer

 AP reports that Sudan’s transitional military council has suspended implementation of a decree demanding that the joint UN-African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur hand over its premises, as part of its withdrawal next year.

 Sudanese diplomat Omer Ahmed Mohamed Ahmed told the UN Security Council that the transitional military council also decided Thursday to withdraw all armed forces and other security forces from sites the government has already received from the peacekeeping force known as UNAMID.

 The UN has opposed the transitional military council’s decree, saying under an agreement with the Sudanese government its facilities when handed over are to be used solely for civilian purposes.