Sudan: Briefing
Tomorrow morning (12 November), the Security Council will convene for a high-level briefing on the situation in Sudan. The UK’s Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Africa, Lord Collins of Highbury, will chair the meeting. Briefings are expected from Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo, Head of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Geneva and Director of the Coordination Division Ramesh Rajasingham, and a civil society representative. Sudan is expected to participate under rule 37 of the Council’s provisional rules of procedure.
DiCarlo is likely to provide an overview of the situation in Sudan, nineteen months after hostilities erupted between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The country remains mired in a deadly conflict, with several armed groups becoming engaged, including signatories of the 2020 Juba Peace Agreement. Reports indicate that foreign actors are backing both sides, further intensifying the crisis. In regions like Darfur, the conflict has taken on an ethnic dimension, fracturing the country’s social fabric and deepening existing divisions. The ongoing conflict has triggered a devastating humanitarian crisis, including significant civilian casualties, mass displacement, severe food and water shortages, and the collapse of healthcare and essential services.
The war has displaced approximately 11.5 million people, roughly three million of whom have sought refuge in Sudan’s neighbouring countries—the Central African Republic (CAR), Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya, South Sudan, and Uganda—making it the world’s largest displacement crisis. Around 25.6 million people are facing acute levels of food insecurity, with famine conditions confirmed in the Zamzam camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) located near El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur. In August, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North Abdelaziz al-Hilu faction (SPLM-N al-Hilu) said that famine conditions exist in areas under its control in the Nuba Mountains region in South Kordofan state. The region is reportedly home to approximately 4.4 million people, including 768,000 individuals displaced from other parts of Sudan. At the same time, the country is experiencing three or more simultaneous outbreaks of different diseases, while fewer than 25 percent of healthcare facilities in conflict-affected states are currently functional.
Tomorrow, the briefers and several Council members are expected to condemn the ongoing violence across Sudan and reiterate the call for an immediate cessation of hostilities. They might highlight the imperative to ensure accountability and justice for victims of violence and call on the parties to comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law. Speakers are likely to stress the urgent need to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, including healthcare facilities, as well as medical and humanitarian personnel. Recent RSF attacks on villages east of Al Jazira state may be highlighted in this regard. According to a 1 November OCHA update, between 20 and 25 October, the RSF launched a major assault on 30 villages, reportedly firing indiscriminately at civilians, committing acts of sexual violence against women and girls, torching farms, and looting homes and markets. Consequently, more than 135,000 individuals have been displaced, most of whom have relocated to Gedaref, Kassala, and River Nile states. Although the exact number of casualties is apparently disputed, UN estimates suggest that at least 124 people were killed.
As both sides continue to pursue military means to influence the conflict’s outcome, mediation efforts have failed to achieve a breakthrough. Consequently, Council members are apparently focusing on how to protect civilians in this fragile environment. On 28 October, UN Secretary-General António Guterres briefed the Council on his 21 October report which outlined recommendations for the protection of civilians (PoC) in Sudan, submitted pursuant to resolution 2736 of 13 June. Guterres warned about the ongoing conflict in Sudan is fuelling regional instability from the Sahel to the Horn of Africa to the Red Sea. He urged the warring parties to agree to an immediate cessation of hostilities, including local ceasefires and humanitarian pauses to foster dialogue and work towards a comprehensive ceasefire. He stressed the need for enhanced action to protect civilians, highlighting the importance of allowing domestic and international human rights monitoring and investigation mechanisms to document violations. Guterres acknowledged that the conditions do not exist for the successful deployment of a UN force to protect civilians in Sudan. He expressed, however, the UN Secretariat’s readiness to explore alternative operational strategies to reduce violence and protect civilians that are adapted to the challenging circumstances.
At the 28 October meeting, several Council members welcomed the Secretary-General’s PoC recommendations and voiced support for collective action, while others were more cautious. Algeria, speaking on behalf of the “A3 plus” members (Algeria, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, and Guyana), said that securing a ceasefire must be the ultimate priority. It added that civilian protection efforts must align with accountability mechanisms to end impunity and bring perpetrators of atrocities and all other types of violations to justice. The US suggested that the international community, in cooperation with African partners, should consider options to establish a “compliance and monitoring mission” that could strengthen PoC and support the implementation and durability of any future local or nationwide cessation of hostilities. On the other hand, Russia stressed that a ceasefire is a decisive factor in ensuring sustained PoC and cautioned that “taking steps to pre-empt this absolutely necessary precondition can result in the opposite of the desired outcome”.
Tomorrow, Rajasingham is likely to highlight the spiralling humanitarian situation in the country, especially food insecurity, and describe efforts by the UN and its partners to deliver aid across Sudan, including in major hunger hotspots. He and several Council members are likely to reiterate the critical need to ensure full, rapid, and sustained humanitarian access through all modalities—including cross-line (across conflict lines within Sudan) and cross-border (across Sudan’s borders with some of the neighbouring countries) and highlight impediments to such access. They may also call on Sudan to extend the authorisation for the use of the Adre crossing at the Chad-Sudan border for humanitarian operations, which was initially authorised on 15 August for a three-month period. Some members, such as Russia, might use the opportunity to highlight efforts undertaken by the Sudanese central authorities to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid.
According to OCHA’s 1 November update, between 20 August and 14 October, 202 aid trucks used the Adre border crossing, transporting 6,265 metric tonnes of supplies for some 615,500 vulnerable people, including individuals who are acutely food insecure and at risk of famine. Moreover, between August and October, 113 trucks carrying 3,400 metric tonnes of humanitarian supplies for the needs of 802,000 people crossed into North Darfur from Chad through the Tine border crossing. The update added that cross-line assistance was provided through 209 trucks carrying 43,253 metric tonnes of relief supplies for up to 1.48 million people.
Council members may reiterate their call on member states to refrain from external interference in Sudan, which is instigating conflict and instability, and to instead support mediation efforts for a durable peace. They may call for strict compliance with the 1591 Sudan sanctions regime—including its targeted sanctions (assets freezes and travel bans) and an arms embargo—which was most recently extended for one year through the unanimous adoption of resolution 2750 of 11 September. In this context, members may highlight the 8 November decision by the 1591 Sudan Sanction Committee to designate two senior RSF commanders—Abdel Rahman Juma Barkalla, the RSF’s West Darfur commander, and Osman Mohamed Hamid Mohamed, the head of the RSF’s operations department—for threatening the peace, security, or stability of Sudan, including acts of violence and human rights abuses.
Council members are currently negotiating a draft resolution proposed by the UK (the penholder on Sudan) and Sierra Leone aimed at advancing measures to protect civilians in Sudan. Following initial deliberations with the Council’s permanent members, the UK circulated the zero draft to all Council members on 8 November.
