UN Security Council to vote on demand for halt to siege of El Fasher

The United Nations Security Council is expected to vote on Thursday on a British-drafted resolution that demands a halt to the siege of El-Fashir, the capital of North Darfur State, by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a rights defender said.

Salih Mahmoud, a Sudanese human rights defender, told Radio Tamazuj this morning that the draft text calls for an immediate halt to the ongoing fighting in and around the city and the withdrawal of all soldiers that threaten the safety of civilians.

He pointed out that the East African regional bloc IGAD and the European Union are also making efforts to stop violations and the arbitrary killing of civilians fleeing armed conflict in Sudan.

“The draft demands that all parties to the war ensure the protection of civilians, including by allowing people willing to move within and out of El-Fashir to safer areas to do so. So the protection and safety of innocent civilians should be the top priority,” he said.

Mahmoud believes that there are responsibilities that fall on the international community, especially the UN Security Council, to protect civilians.

He called for practical and concrete measures to be taken as soon as possible and not to be satisfied with statements of condemnation.

Meanwhile, residents of El Fasher say that fears of renewed massacres and indiscriminate killings have increased, stressing that approximately 30 deaths occur every day.

Abu Bakr Adam, a resident of El Fasher, told Radio Tamazuj that citizens are going through an unprecedented humanitarian crisis amid the siege imposed by the Rapid Support Forces. He pointed to a lack of drinking water, food, medicine and a sharp rise in food prices.

Adam said that the number of deaths in El Fasher is increasing daily due to the attacks on the city.

A resolution by the UN Security Council needs at least nine votes in favour and no vetoes by Russia, China, the United States, Britain or France to be adopted.

War erupted in Sudan in April last year between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Al-Fashir is the last major city in the western Darfur region not under control of the RSF.

Senior UN officials warned that some 800,000 people in El-Fashir were in “extreme and immediate danger” due to violence.