UN Security Council to weigh call for immediate Sudan ceasefire

Draft resolution calls for immediate ceasefire in Sudan amid ongoing conflict between rival generals, facing uncertain impact.

The UN Security Council on Monday (November 18, 2024) will take up a draft resolution calling for an immediate end to hostilities in Sudan, where a war between two rival generals shows no sign of easing.

A draft text seen by AFP, prepared by Britain and Sierra Leone, calls on the parties to "immediately cease hostilities and engage, in good faith, in dialogue to agree steps to de-escalate the conflict with the aim of urgently agreeing a national ceasefire."

Sudan has been ravaged since April 2023 by fighting between the regular army of General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who seized power in a 2021 coup, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) led by his onetime deputy, General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

The conflict has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than 11 million people, including 3.1 million who have fled the country, according to UN figures.

Recent weeks have seen violence flare up again, with each camp seemingly "convinced they can prevail on the battlefield," Rosemary DiCarlo, UN under-secretary-general for political affairs, said recently.

The fighting has taken a high toll among civilians, with some 26 million people facing severe food shortages and both sides exchanging accusations of sexual violence.

Against that backdrop, the draft resolution calls on both parties to "fully implement" commitments made in 2023 to protect civilians, to "halt and prevent conflict-related sexual violence," and to allow "rapid, safe, unhindered" humanitarian access into and throughout Sudan.