UN Relief Coordinator Calls for Immediate Action to Stop War in Sudan

People displaced by the ongoing conflict in Sudan between the army and paramilitaries, queue to receive aid from a charity organisation in Gedaref on December 30, 2023. (Photo by AFP)
People displaced by the ongoing conflict in Sudan between the army and paramilitaries, queue to receive aid from a charity organisation in Gedaref on December 30, 2023. (Photo by AFP)
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UN Relief Coordinator Calls for Immediate Action to Stop War in Sudan

People displaced by the ongoing conflict in Sudan between the army and paramilitaries, queue to receive aid from a charity organisation in Gedaref on December 30, 2023. (Photo by AFP)
People displaced by the ongoing conflict in Sudan between the army and paramilitaries, queue to receive aid from a charity organisation in Gedaref on December 30, 2023. (Photo by AFP)

UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths has called on the international community, especially those whom he said have “influence” on the parties to the conflict in Sudan, to take “decisive and immediate” action to stop the fighting and safeguard humanitarian operations.

Last April, clashes erupted between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) led by Abdulfattah al-Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces headed by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo following weeks of tension.

Griffiths said in a statement published by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Action (OCHA) that nearly nine months of war have tipped Sudan into a downward spiral that only grows more ruinous by the day.

He noted that as the “conflict spreads, human suffering is deepening, humanitarian access is shrinking, and hope is dwindling.”

Nearly 25 million people across Sudan will need humanitarian assistance in 2024, “the bleak reality is that intensifying hostilities are putting most of them beyond our reach,” he said Thursday.

- Serious threat

He said that hostilities reached the “country’s breadbasket” in al-Jazirah State, putting more of the population “at stake.”

More than 500,000 people have fled fighting in and around the state capital, Wad Medani, long a place of refuge for those uprooted by clashes elsewhere.

Ongoing mass displacement could also fuel the rapid spread of a cholera outbreak in the state, with more than 1,800 suspected cases reported there so far.

“The same horrific abuses that have defined this war in other hotspots – Khartoum, Darfur, and Kordofan – are now being reported in Wad Medani.”

Accounts of widespread human rights violations, including sexual violence, “remind us that the parties to this conflict are still failing to uphold their commitments to protect civilians.”

Given Wad Medani’s significance as a hub for relief operations, the fighting there – and looting of humanitarian warehouses and supplies – “is a body blow to our efforts to deliver food, water, health care, and other critical aid,” Griffiths pointed out.

- Regional stability

Top UN officials reported that about 25 million persons across Sudan will need humanitarian aid in 2024. However, the intensified hostilities make it more difficult for them to reach the aid.

Deliveries across conflict lines have ground to a halt. The cross-border aid operation from Chad continues to serve as a lifeline for people in Darfur, and efforts to deliver elsewhere are increasingly under threat.

Griffiths also warned that the escalating violence in Sudan is also imperiling regional stability.

The war has unleashed the world’s largest displacement crisis, uprooting the lives of more than 7 million people, some 1.4 million of whom have crossed into neighboring countries that already host large refugee populations.



Ankara: Assad Does Not Want Peace in Syria

Fidan addresses the Planning and Budget Committee of the Turkish Parliament (Turkish Foreign Ministry)
Fidan addresses the Planning and Budget Committee of the Turkish Parliament (Turkish Foreign Ministry)
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Ankara: Assad Does Not Want Peace in Syria

Fidan addresses the Planning and Budget Committee of the Turkish Parliament (Turkish Foreign Ministry)
Fidan addresses the Planning and Budget Committee of the Turkish Parliament (Turkish Foreign Ministry)

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has stated that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is unwilling to pursue peace in Syria and warned that Israel’s efforts to spread war across the Middle East are undermining the environment fostered by the Astana Process.

Fidan emphasized the importance of Russian and Iranian efforts within the framework of the Astana Process to maintain calm on the ground, pointing to ongoing consultations with the US regarding the Syrian crisis.

Speaking during a parliamentary session discussing the 2025 budget of the Foreign Ministry, Fidan reiterated Türkiye’s expectation that the dialogue proposed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will be approached strategically by the Syrian government, with priority given to the interests of the Syrian people.

Regarding Erdogan’s invitation to Assad for a meeting to discuss the normalization of ties between Ankara and Damascus, Fidan remarked that the matter depends on political will, stressing that the Turkish president has demonstrated his readiness at the highest level.

Last week, Erdogan reiterated the possibility of a meeting with Assad, but Russia, which mediates the normalization talks between Ankara and Damascus, ruled out such a meeting or high-level engagements in the near future.

Russian Presidential Envoy to Syria Alexander Lavrentiev attributed the impasse to Türkiye’s refusal to meet Damascus’ demand for a withdrawal from northern Syria, accusing Ankara of acting as an “occupying state”.

Although Türkiye has not officially responded to Lavrentiev’s comments, which reflect a shift in Russia’s stance, Fidan stated in a televised interview last week that Russia remains “somewhat neutral” regarding the normalization process. He also urged the Syrian government to create conditions for the return of 10 million Syrian refugees.

Türkiye maintains that its military presence in northern Syria prevents the country’s division, blocks the establishment of a “terror corridor” along its southern border, and deters new waves of refugees from entering its territory.

Fidan outlined his country’s key objectives in Syria, which include eradicating terrorist groups (such as the Kurdistan Workers’ Party and the Syrian Democratic Forces), preserving Syria’s territorial unity, advancing the political process, and ensuring the safe and voluntary return of Syrian refugees.

Meanwhile, Turkish artillery targeted villages and positions controlled by the Manbij Military Council, affiliated with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), whose main component is the People’s Protection Units (YPG).

On Friday, fierce clashes erupted between the Syrian National Army factions and the SDF in western Tel Abyad, northern Raqqa. Simultaneously, Turkish artillery strikes reportedly killed two SDF members and injured others, with reports of captives and missing personnel.

In retaliation, the SDF shelled Turkish bases in the Ain Issa countryside. Turkish forces responded by deploying military reinforcements amid heightened alert at their bases in Raqqa’s countryside, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).