The UN humanitarian chief heavily criticised the international community on Monday for failing Sudan, as civilian deaths rise and aid operations face severe funding shortages.
More than two thirds of Sudan's population are now in desperate need of life-saving assistance, UN aid chief Tom Fletcher told the Security Council.
“The people of Sudan need food, water and medicine,” he said. “Yet the world sends drones, weapons and mercenaries.”
About 1,400 civilians were killed in Sudan in the first half of this year, including more than 1,100 in drone strikes, the UN says.
Mr Fletcher, the undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief co-ordinator, said drones were attacking markets, fuel stations, and critical power and water infrastructure in El Obeid in North Kordofan, where fighting has driven 15,000 families into the city since mid-July.
Air strikes were also reported south-west of the city over the past 72 hours.
Despite the violence, aid agencies reached nearly 11 million people with some form of assistance by the end of June. But Mr Fletcher warned that funding remained far short of what is required on the ground.
Massad Boulos, US presidential adviser on Arab and African Affairs, echoed Mr Fletcher's concerns and called on the Security Council “to do more”.
“Civilians across Sudan are living a nightmare,” he said. “The brutality of the war waged by the Rapid Support Forces and Sudanese Armed Forces has discredited their claims to be legitimate governors of the Sudanese people.
“Civilians have been run out of their homes that were then looted. They have faced terrible atrocities and abuses, even as they have fled to safety.
“How devastating the human toll of the increased use of armed drones has been. It is horrifying to know that armed drones have taken the lives of more than 1,120 Sudanese civilians already in the first half of this year.”
The Darfur arms embargo, in place for more than two decades, is set to expire on September 12 if a new agreement is not reached. Expanding the restrictions to all of Sudan would require a vote of the UN Security Council, with veto-holding Russia warning on Monday against new measures that would affect the Sudanese army.
Washington has put forward a draft Security Council resolution that would expand the existing arms embargo across all of Sudan and explicitly place drones and related technology within its scope.
He said Washington has put forward a draft resolution that would expand the arms embargo across Sudan and clarify that drones and related technologies fall under its restrictions.
The resolution would also request the UN Secretary General to “increase the number of experts on the 1591 panel, and four, directing the 1591 panel of experts to collaborate with other panels covering the region to better inform the council of violations of the assets freeze, travel ban, and arms embargo”.
“If this council refuses to act, those who will suffer most are the Sudanese people,” he warned.
