UN chief ‘gravely alarmed’ by reports of RSF assault on Sudan’s el-Fasher
Al Jazeera
Antonio Guterres has called on the RSF commander to ‘act responsibly and immediately order a halt’ to its attacks.
The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is “gravely alarmed” by reports of a full-scale assault on North Darfur’s city of el-Fasher in Sudan, says a UN spokesperson.
Guterres on Saturday called on the leader of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to immediately halt the attack, warning that any further escalation threatens to spread the conflict along intercommunal lines throughout the country’s Darfur region, the spokesperson said in a statement.
“He calls on Lt. General Mohamed Hamdan ‘Hemedti’ Dagalo to act responsibly and immediately order a halt to the RSF attack,” UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a statement on Saturday, referring to the RSF commander.
“It is unconscionable that the warring parties have repeatedly ignored calls for a cessation of hostilities.”
Sudan plunged into conflict in April 2023, when long-simmering tensions between its military and paramilitary leaders broke out in the capital Khartoum and spread to other regions, including Darfur.