The UN is ready to investigate the Sudanese Armed Forces' chemical weapons programme if a mandate is approved, The National was told on Monday.
The UN also supports efforts to stop the flow of weapons into Sudan, said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, in an interview ahead of the General Assembly's high-level debate in New York this week.
It comes as the US is pushing to expand the existing arms embargo to the whole of Sudan, a move Mr Dujarric said the UN fully supports.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is due to open the debate in New York on Tuesday, followed by an address by US President Donald Trump. The Middle East is expected to be at the heart of discussions, from the war with Iran to the conflicts in Sudan and Yemen, as well as Gaza and Lebanon.
Mr Dujarric, spokesman for the UN Secretary General since 2014, said the time had come for de-escalation in the region and expressed hope that the hundreds of meetings taking place this week would help find solutions in Sudan.
“De-escalation, de-escalation and de-escalation. We're seeing violence continuing … and what is clear to the Secretary General is that there is no military solution to these conflicts,” he said of the wars currently being fought around the world.
One of the conflicts to be focused on this week is Sudan, where fighting between the SAF and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has devastated the country of 50 million people and battered its economy.
SAF leader Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan has vowed to continue fighting until the RSF is defeated, rejecting repeated attempts by the US and regional powers to broker a ceasefire. Both sides have been accused of grave abuse and war crimes.
The UN Security Council has given members one month to consider a US proposal to expand the arms embargo currently in place for Darfur across Sudan, after further evidence emerged of alleged chemical weapons use by the SAF and a fact-finding mission found both warring parties were using foreign-supplied weapons.
“The Security Council has its own dynamics. We know the challenges of those dynamics right now,” said Mr Dujarric. “What is clear is that Sudan does not need are more weapons pouring in from the outside.
“We have seen different countries sending weapons, using Sudan as a transit country. The Sudanese people don't need more bombs. The Sudanese people don't need more drones. The Sudanese people need peace and they need our help,” he added.
Asked about establishing a fact-finding mission to enter Sudan and investigate the alleged use of chemical weapons, he said the UN stood ready to act. “Should we be given a mandate to do so, we would do so,” he added.
“The fact that in the 21st century we're still talking about chemical weapons, when we saw the horrors that chemical weapons did in the First World War, in the way that Saddam Hussein used it on his own people … the way it was used in Syria, is abhorrent. We should not be speaking about chemical weapons and no one should be using them.”
The Sudan conflict has been increasingly linked to the wider region, with the Houthis in Yemen said to be co-ordinating with the SAF to smuggle weapons and expand their reach into the Horn of Africa.
The Iran-backed rebels recently launched a major campaign and seized Yemen's western coast, facing the Horn of Africa across the Red Sea. They have also stepped up attacks on Saudi Arabia and increased threats to shipping through the strategic Bab Al Mandeb strait.
“It's a very, very dangerous escalation,” said the UN official, before adding that “we need to have a restoration of freedom of navigation. It's critical for all of us.”
Iran has supported the Houthi takeover, sources told The National last week. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is due to address the UN General Assembly as his country remains at the centre of several of the Middle East's crises, from its support for the Houthis to the disruption of shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
Mr Guterres will meet US President Donald Trump and Mr Pezeshkian separately, with diplomacy expected to be high on the agenda. “Diplomacy and pushing for a diplomatic solution will be at the forefront of all of the Secretary General's discussions,” Mr Dujarric told The National.
Another key issue linked to the Iran conflict is Tehran's support for Hezbollah and the future of the Unifil peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, whose mandate is due to end this year.
The US has pushed for an end to the mission, describing peacekeepers as “human shields for terrorists” and accusing Unifil of failing to carry out its mandate to prevent Hezbollah from rearming against Israel, which currently occupies parts of southern Lebanon. European countries have been working on plans for a force that could replace it.
“I wouldn't agree, as you can imagine, with that description of the brave men and women of Unifil, who have been literally putting their lives on the line to defend the Lebanese people, and to stay there,” said Mr Dujarric.
“We believe Unifil has been doing its job. We'll be ready to assist in any mandate we're given.”
