US calls for regional powers to stop supporting Sudanese warring parties

UN has warned of a probable imminent attack in El Fasher in Darfur

A member of the Sudanese armed forces patrols a street in Omdurman. Reuters

The US on Monday called on regional powers to stop supporting Sudan's warring parties, and warned that an expected attack on El Fasher in Darfur would be a “disaster” for the city's 800,000 inhabitants.

The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, which have been locked in a bloody conflict with Sudan's military for more than a year, have encircled El Fasher.

The UN last week said an attack on the city could be imminent, as the Sudanese army also appeared to be positioning itself.

“We do know that both sides are receiving support – both weapons and other support – to fuel their efforts to continue to destroy Sudan,” Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the UN, told reporters in New York.

“All regional powers must stop providing weapons to both parties in accordance with the UN arms embargo.”

El Fasher is the last major city in the vast, western Darfur region not under the control of the RSF.

War in Sudan one year on - in pictures

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  Rapid Support Forces commander Gen Mohamed Dagalo, then deputy head of Sudan's sovereign council, gives a media briefing in Khartoum in February last year. Reuters

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  Smoke rises after blasts in Khartoum amid clashes between the Sudanese Army and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary on April 15 last year. AFP

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  Sudanese Army soldiers at the Rapid Support Forces base in Port Sudan on April 16 last year. AFP

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  Black smoke covers the sky over Khartoum as clashes continued on April 19. AFP

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  Displaced Khartoum residents flee the city after a 24-hour truce collapsed on April 19. AFP

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  Foreign citizens board a plane at a French military air base in Khartoum to leave Sudan on April 23. AFP

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  A soldier carries a child as people evacuated from Sudan disembark from a plain at a military airport in Amman on April 24. AFP

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  Evacuees from Sudan sit in a military plane as they wait to be processed by Kenyan troops in Nairobi on April 24. Reuters

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  Sudanese refugees gather to receive humanitarian aid in Koufroun, Chad, on April 30. AFP

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  Sudanese Army chief Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan visits troop positions in Khartoum on May 30. AFP

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  Sudanese refugees at the Zabout camp in Goz Beida, Chad, on July 1. AP

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  Smoke rises from a fire at a lumber warehouse in southern Khartoum on June 7. AFP

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  People prepare to leave Khartoum during a ceasefire on June 19. AP

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  People sit on top of a lorry carrying furniture on the road between Khartoum and Wad Madani, Al Gezirah state, on July 18. AFP

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  Men load goods from Ethiopia on to a lorry in the border town of Gallabat on August 2. AFP

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  Sudanese Army troops ride in a military convoy accompanying the governor of Darfur State in the eastern city of Gedaref on August 30. AFP

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  A fire rages at a livestock market after RSF bombardment in Al Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, on September 1. AFP

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  People cook on a campfire at a school that has been turned into a shelter for displaced Sudanese in the northern border town of Wadi Halfa, near Egypt, on September 11. AFP

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  Displaced Sudanese ride on top of a lorry in Wad Madani on December 16. AFP

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  Sudanese refugees queue to board a lorry to go to a transit centre after crossing the border into South Sudan on February 14. AFP

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  People watch as fighters from the army-aligned Sudan Liberation Movement attend a graduation ceremony in the south-eastern Gedaref state on March 28. AFP

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  Fighters from the SLM attend a graduation ceremony in Gedaref state on March 28. AFP

“As I've said before, history is repeating itself in Darfur in the worst possible way, and an attack on El Fasher would be a disaster on top of a disaster, with 500,000 internally displaced persons at risk,” Ms Thomas-Greenfield said.

“Every single member state must speak out. The entire international community must speak out.”

The UN estimates between 10,000 and 15,000 people have been killed since the civil war started, with about eight million displaced and the impoverished country pushed to the brink of famine.

Ms Thomas-Greenfield urged both the RSF and the Sudanese military to engage in direct negotiations in Jeddah.

International efforts led by the US and Saudi Arabia to broker a truce have failed, and the two sides have refused to return to the negotiating table.

James Kariuki, Britain's UN deputy ambassador, told reporters that the Security Council is concerned about the humanitarian crisis.

“We heard, in particular, how troubling the problem of humanitarian access is given the barriers imposed by both sides to the conflict on this,” he said after a closed-door meeting on the situation in Sudan.