Sudanese Need Protection, but Conditions Not Right for UN Force, Says Guterres

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres attends a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia October 24, 2024. Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel/Pool via Reuters
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres attends a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia October 24, 2024. Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel/Pool via Reuters
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Sudanese Need Protection, but Conditions Not Right for UN Force, Says Guterres

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres attends a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia October 24, 2024. Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel/Pool via Reuters
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres attends a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia October 24, 2024. Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel/Pool via Reuters

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed to the Security Council on Monday for its support to help protect civilians in war-torn Sudan, but said conditions are not right for deployment of a UN force.

"The people of Sudan are living through a nightmare of violence — with thousands of civilians killed, and countless others facing unspeakable atrocities, including widespread rape and sexual assaults," Guterres told the 15-member council. War erupted in mid-April 2023 from a power struggle between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces ahead of a planned transition to civilian rule, and triggered the world's largest displacement crisis, Reuters reported.

"Sudan is, once again, rapidly becoming a nightmare of mass ethnic violence," Guterres said, referring to a conflict in Sudan's Darfur region about 20 years ago that led to the International Criminal Court charging former Sudanese leaders with genocide and crimes against humanity. The current war has produced waves of ethnically driven violence blamed largely on the RSF. The RSF killed at least 124 people in a village in El Gezira State on Friday, activists said, in one of the conflict's deadliest incidents.

The RSF has previously denied harming civilians in Sudan and attributed the activity to rogue actors.

Guterres acknowledged calls by Sudanese and human-rights groups for stepped-up measures to protect civilians, including the possible deployment of some form of impartial force, saying they reflected "the gravity and urgency of the situation."

"At present, the conditions do not exist for the successful deployment of a United Nations force to protect civilians in Sudan," he told the council, but added he was ready to discuss other ways to reduce violence and protect civilians.

"This may require new approaches that are adapted to the challenging circumstances of the conflict," Guterres said.

The UN says nearly 25 million people - half of Sudan's population - need aid as famine has taken hold in displacement camps and 11 million people have fled their homes. Nearly 3 million of those people have left for other countries.



Yemen's Houthis Launched Drones towards Israel's Ashkelon

A Houthis-made mock drone on display in front of a billboard featuring a portrait of late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, at a square in Sana'a, Yemen, 22 October 2024.  EPA/YAHYA ARHAB
A Houthis-made mock drone on display in front of a billboard featuring a portrait of late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, at a square in Sana'a, Yemen, 22 October 2024. EPA/YAHYA ARHAB
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Yemen's Houthis Launched Drones towards Israel's Ashkelon

A Houthis-made mock drone on display in front of a billboard featuring a portrait of late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, at a square in Sana'a, Yemen, 22 October 2024.  EPA/YAHYA ARHAB
A Houthis-made mock drone on display in front of a billboard featuring a portrait of late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, at a square in Sana'a, Yemen, 22 October 2024. EPA/YAHYA ARHAB

Yemen's Houthis launched drones towards an industrial zone in the Israeli city of Ashkelon, the militant group's military spokesperson said on Tuesday.
The Yemeni militants, who have been attacking ships crossing the Red Sea since November of last year, say they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza and in support of Lebanon against Israeli strikes, Reuters said.
The Israeli military said on Tuesday morning that sirens sounded in Ashkelon after a drone crossed into Israeli territory but fell in an open space in the area.
Israel condemns the Houthis as terrorists following the instructions of its arch-foe Iran.
The group, which controls the capital Sanaa and the most populous areas of Yemen, is part of Iran's self-proclaimed "Axis of Resistance" against Israel and US influence in the Middle East.
The Axis also includes the Palestinian group Hamas, that ignited a year-long war with Israel on Oct.7, the Hezbollah movement in Lebanon, along with various Shi'ite armed groups in Iraq and Syria.