The UN Security Council on Thursday demanded a halt to the siege of El Fasher - a city of 1.8 million people in Sudan's North Darfur region - by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and an immediate end to fighting in the area.
The 15-member council adopted a British-drafted resolution that also calls for the withdrawal of all fighters who threaten the safety and security of civilians in El Fasher.
The UN said the resolution also calls for “an immediate halt to the fighting” and “withdrawal of all fighters that threaten the safety and security of civilians.”
The resolution received 14 votes in favor, while Russia abstained.
Russia’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Anna Evstigneeva, explained that her country abstained from voting because a previous resolution on the occasion of the holy month of Ramadan, which had been pushed through the Council in March, remained on paper.
UK Ambassador Barbara Woodward said she tabled this resolution “to help secure a localized ceasefire around El Fasher and create the wider conditions to support de-escalation across the country and, ultimately, save lives.”
Also, US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield urged the Security Council to support efforts to bring about an immediate end to the fighting, by putting pressure on the warring parties to stop blocking humanitarian access and aid.
She said over 25 million Sudanese are in dire need of humanitarian assistance, and she and many council members urged that more crossings be opened — and that donors come forward.
Thomas-Greenfield then accused the RSF of obstructing the delivery of aid. She warned that the continuation of the conflict in Sudan would lead to further destabilization.
The conflict in Sudan broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF, leading to the world's largest displacement crisis.
El Fasher is the last major urban center in Darfur that remains in the hands of Sudan's army.
The RSF and its allies raided four other state capitals in Darfur last year, and was accused of launching a campaign of ethnically motivated killings targeting non-Arab tribes, and of committing other abuses in West Darfur.
Last April, UN officials warned that the violence poses an extreme and immediate danger to the 800,000 civilians who reside in El Fasher.
In Sudan, the UN says half of the population, 25 million people, need humanitarian aid, and that the war uprooted around 8 million people while famine is closing in.
