UNITAMS Calls for Deploying Joint Forces in Darfur


The Rapid Support Forces of the Sudanese army in Darfur (Reuters)
The Rapid Support Forces of the Sudanese army in Darfur (Reuters)
TT

UNITAMS Calls for Deploying Joint Forces in Darfur


The Rapid Support Forces of the Sudanese army in Darfur (Reuters)
The Rapid Support Forces of the Sudanese army in Darfur (Reuters)

The Sudanese government has expressed willingness to cooperate with all concerned authorities to implement security arrangements, and to achieve mechanisms for merging forces by what was stated in the Juba Peace Agreement document.

The government announcement coincided with The United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan describing the security conditions in Darfur as “fragile”.

UNITAMS held on Sunday meetings of the Technical Committee on operationalizing the Darfur Permanent Ceasefire Committee of the peace agreement.

It will serve as the main mechanism for the efforts of monitoring, verification, and implementation of the permanent ceasefire on the ground. It will include stakeholders, military and security entities, the civil community, transitional government and armed groups representatives.

UNITAMS is fully committed to fulfilling this role as Chair of the Permanent Ceasefire Committee, it said.

The United Nations Security Council in resolutions 2524 (2020) and 2579 (2021) emphasized ceasefire monitoring in Darfur as a priority area for UNITAMS' support to Sudan.

Defense Minister Yassin Ibrahim Khartoum has said the Armed Forces' were willing to work with all concerned authorities to implement the tasks of the security arrangements and to achieve mechanisms for merging forces by what was stated in the Juba Peace Agreement document.

In the Workshop on Technical Consultations to Reactivate Support of the Permanent Ceasefire Committee, which was organized by the UNITAMS Sunday at Al-Salam Hotel, the minister said that the Armed Forces will work in coordination with the UN mission and that they will accept advice from all concerned parties.

He stressed that the Armed Forces are fully prepared to deploy all over the country to implement the peace agreement.

He stated that the recent developments in some areas in North Darfur State are isolated events, indicating that the shortage in financial resources has hindered the implementation of the security arrangements protocols.

The minister expressed hope that the workshop would come out with recommendations that will contribute to the peaceful transition of power and to achieve the goals of the transitional period.



RSF Attack a City under Military Control in Central Sudan, Opening a New Front

Sudanese soldiers from the Rapid Support Forces unit, led by Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, the deputy head of the military council, secure the area where Dagalo attends a military-backed tribe's rally, in the East Nile province, Sudan, on June 22, 2019. (AP)
Sudanese soldiers from the Rapid Support Forces unit, led by Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, the deputy head of the military council, secure the area where Dagalo attends a military-backed tribe's rally, in the East Nile province, Sudan, on June 22, 2019. (AP)
TT

RSF Attack a City under Military Control in Central Sudan, Opening a New Front

Sudanese soldiers from the Rapid Support Forces unit, led by Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, the deputy head of the military council, secure the area where Dagalo attends a military-backed tribe's rally, in the East Nile province, Sudan, on June 22, 2019. (AP)
Sudanese soldiers from the Rapid Support Forces unit, led by Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, the deputy head of the military council, secure the area where Dagalo attends a military-backed tribe's rally, in the East Nile province, Sudan, on June 22, 2019. (AP)

Fighting continued to rage between Sudan’s military and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in a city in a central province, officials said Sunday, opening yet another front in a fourteen-month war that has pushed the African country to the brink of famine.

The RSF began its offensive on the Sennar province earlier this week, attacking the village of Jebal Moya before moving to the city of Singa, the provincial capital, authorities said, where fresh battles have erupted.

On Saturday, the group claimed in a statement it had seized the military’s main facility, the 17th Infantry Division Headquarters in Singa. Local media also reported the RSF managed to breach the military’s defense.

However, Brig. Nabil Abdalla, a spokesperson for the Sudanese armed forces, said the military regained control of the facility, and that fighting was still underway Sunday morning.

Neither claim could be independently verified.

According to the UN’s International Organization for Migration, at least 327 households had to flee from Jebal Moya and Singa to safer areas.

“The situation remains tense and unpredictable,” it said in a statement.

The latest fighting in Sennar comes while almost all eyes are on al-Fasher, a major city in the sprawling region of Darfur that the RSF has besieged for months in an attempt to seize it from the military. Al-Fasher is the military's last stronghold in Darfur.

Sudan’s war began in April last year when simmering tensions between the military and the RSF exploded into open fighting in the capital, Khartoum and elsewhere in the country.

The devastating conflict has killed more than 14,000 people and wounded 33,000 others, according to the United Nations, but rights activists say the toll could be much higher.

It created the world’s largest displacement crisis with over 11 million people forced to flee their homes. International experts warned Thursday that that 755,000 people are facing famine in the coming months, and that 8.5 million people are facing extreme food shortages.

The conflict has been marked by widespread reports of rampant sexual violence and other atrocities — especially in Darfur, the site of a genocide in the early 2000s. Rights groups say the atrocities amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.