US Warns Sudan Unit Against 'Imminent Large-scale Attack' in Darfur

Chadian cart owners transport belongings of Sudanese people who fled the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region, while crossing the border between Sudan and Chad in Adre, Chad August 4, 2023. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra/File Photo
Chadian cart owners transport belongings of Sudanese people who fled the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region, while crossing the border between Sudan and Chad in Adre, Chad August 4, 2023. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra/File Photo
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US Warns Sudan Unit Against 'Imminent Large-scale Attack' in Darfur

Chadian cart owners transport belongings of Sudanese people who fled the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region, while crossing the border between Sudan and Chad in Adre, Chad August 4, 2023. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra/File Photo
Chadian cart owners transport belongings of Sudanese people who fled the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region, while crossing the border between Sudan and Chad in Adre, Chad August 4, 2023. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra/File Photo

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday warned Sudan's paramilitary force against what Washington called an "imminent large-scale attack" in North Darfur's capital, where thousands were seeking refuge from fighting.

"The United States is deeply troubled by reports of an imminent large-scale attack by Sudan's Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on El Fasher, North Darfur, that would subject civilians, including hundreds of thousands of displaced persons -- many of whom only recently fled to El Fasher from other areas -- to extreme danger," Blinken said in a statement, AFP reported.

"The United States calls on the warring parties to immediately cease further attacks in and around El Fasher," Blinken said.

While the United States did not cite the source of its information, the statement was unusually strong as it was issued in Blinken's name.

Since April, the war between regular forces loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary RSF, commanded by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, has killed more than 9,000 people and displaced over 5.6 million.

"At a time when so much hope is being placed on the Jeddah talks to achieve a sustainable ceasefire and facilitated humanitarian access, I call on all parties to refrain from escalating and expanding the conflict," said Clementine Nkweta-Salami, the United Nations' deputy special representative of the secretary-general for Sudan.

As negotiations proceed, violence has flared in Darfur, with an eyewitness in El Fasher telling AFP that an army base was targeted by drones Thursday.

The vast region of Darfur -- the size of France and home to around a quarter of Sudan's 48 million people -- is deeply scarred by a scorched-earth campaign launched two decades ago by the RSF's predecessor, the Janjaweed militia.

"I am alarmed by reports that civilians are being caught in the ongoing fighting," Nkweta-Salami said, "recalling the events in El Geneina in Darfur last June," when rights groups and witnesses reported massacres, rampant sexual violence and mass graves in the West Darfur capital.

The violence in El Geneina and other reports of ethnically-motivated killings by the RSF and allied militias triggered a new investigation from the ICC into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.



Security Council Urges Syrian Authorities to Protect Minorities

Security personnel inspect vehicles at a checkpoint set up to confiscate stolen items, in Latakia, Syria March 14, 2025. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
Security personnel inspect vehicles at a checkpoint set up to confiscate stolen items, in Latakia, Syria March 14, 2025. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
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Security Council Urges Syrian Authorities to Protect Minorities

Security personnel inspect vehicles at a checkpoint set up to confiscate stolen items, in Latakia, Syria March 14, 2025. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
Security personnel inspect vehicles at a checkpoint set up to confiscate stolen items, in Latakia, Syria March 14, 2025. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi

The UN Security Council has condemned the widespread violence in several provinces in Syria, calling on the interim authorities “to protect all Syrians without distinction.”

In a presidential statement it adopted unanimously on Friday, the Council “condemned the widespread violence perpetrated in Syria’s Latakia and Tartus provinces since 6 March — including mass killings of civilians among the Alawite community.”

The Council “condemned attacks targeting civilian infrastructure” and “called on all parties to immediately cease all violence and inflammatory activities and ensure the protection of all civilian populations and infrastructure, as well as humanitarian operations.”

It said “all parties and States must ensure full, safe and unhindered humanitarian access to those affected and the humane treatment of all persons. The Council also urged a rapid increase of humanitarian support across Syria.”

The Council “called for swift, transparent, independent, impartial and comprehensive investigations to ensure accountability and bring all perpetrators of violence against civilians to justice.”

It took note of the Syrian interim authorities’ establishment of an independent committee to investigate such violence and identify those responsible.

The Council also noted the Syrian decision to establish a committee for civil peace.

It renewed its call for an inclusive political process led and owned by Syrians, facilitated by the UN and based on the principles outlined in resolution 2254. “This includes safeguarding the rights of all Syrians — regardless of ethnicity or religion — meeting their legitimate aspirations and enabling them to peacefully, independently and democratically determine their futures.”

Meanwhile, the Special Envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, hoped that the Constitutional Declaration issued by the Syrian authorities “will move Syria toward restoring the rule of law and promoting an orderly inclusive transition.”

Pedersen issued a statement on the fourteenth anniversary of the war in Syria.

“Now is the time for bold moves to create a genuinely credible and inclusive transitional government and legislative body; a constitutional framework and process to draft a new constitution for the long term that is credible and inclusive too; and genuine transitional justice,” he said.

“More than three months since the fall of the Assad regime, Syria now stands at a pivotal moment,” he added.

The Special Envoy called for “an immediate end to all violence and for protection of civilians in accordance with international law” and called “for a credible independent investigation into the recent killings and violence, and for the full cooperation of the caretaker authorities with the United Nations in this regard.”