Oct. 27 (UPI) — The United Nations’ top aid coordinator called for an immediate cease-fire in Sudan’s Darfur region, saying he was becoming increasingly concerned for civilians caught in the line of fire without food or healthcare and no way of escape.
Calling the reports of civilian casualties and forced displacement as Rapid Support Forces fighters push further into the Darfur capital, El Fasher, “alarming,” U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher demanded Sunday that civilians be allowed to move to safety and aid workers be protected.
“Hundreds of thousands of civilians are trapped and terrified — shelled, starving, and without access to food, healthcare or safety.
“Safe, rapid and unimpeded humanitarian access must be allowed to reach all civilians in need. We have lifesaving supplies ready, but intensified attacks have made it impossible for us to get aid in,” Fletcher said. “Local humanitarian workers continue to save lives under fire.”
He condemned targeting of civilians and attacks on health infrastructure and houses of worship, including recent strikes on the El Fasher’s Saudi Hospital and a mosque that killed at least 20 people, calling on the warring sides not to flout international law.
Fletcher said those breaking human rights and international humanitarian law must be accountable and pointed to a U.N. Security Council resolution calling on RSF to end its offensive in El Fasher immediately.
The resolution, adopted in a unanimous vote in New York in June 2024, has thus far been ignored by the RSF.
Sunday’s cease-fire call came amid reports that government Sudanese Armed Forces troops had lost control of EL Fasher after the RSF captured the headquarters of the army’s sixth division following an 18-month-long siege of the last remaining government-controlled city in the west of the country.
The BBC said it had verified footage circulating online showing RSF troops toasting their victory inside the base.
Fighting escalated over the weekend, with heavy clashes after the RSF troops captured the residence of the governor of North Darfur.
The RSF claimed to be in control of the whole city but local backers of the SAF dispute this, insisting that fighting was ongoing in some districts. The army has yet to comment.
The SAF still controls most of the country’s north and the east while the RSF holds the vast majority of Darfur and majority of the vast Kordofan region which borders Darfur in the west and the capital, Khartoum, in the east.
The civil war which erupted between two rival factions of the country’s military government in 2023, has killed at least 150,000 people and displaced around 12 million others as a result of the ensuing humanitarian crises — ranked the world’s worst by the International Rescue Committee.
