Sudan Conflict: Pressure needed to halt fighting
The UN rights chief yesterday called on the international community to exert all possible pressure on the fighting sides in Sudan to resolve the conflict and end "the wanton violence".
The fighting has plunged "this much-suffering country into catastrophe", United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said.
Addressing a session of the UN Human Rights Council, he urged "all states with influence in the region to encourage, by all possible means, the resolution of this crisis".
His comments, via video message, came as fighting continued in Khartoum, pushing more people to undertake dangerous journeys to safety crossing borders.
More than 750 people have been killed and hundreds of thousands have been displaced in the fighting that began on April 15 between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
"I condemn the use of violence by individuals who have no regard for the lives and fundamental rights of millions of their own compatriots," Turk said, slamming "this wanton violence, in which both sides have trampled international humanitarian law".
Yesterday's urgent council session in Geneva, requested by Britain, Germany, Norway and the United States, with the support of dozens of other countries, narrowly decided to beef up monitoring of abuses amid Sudan's spiralling conflict, despite vehement opposition from Khartoum.
The UN Human Rights Council's 47 members voted with 18 in favour, 15 opposed and 14 abstaining for a resolution calling for an end to the violence and broadening the mandate of a UN expert on Sudan to include monitoring of abuses "arising directly from the current conflict".
Sudan's ambassador Hassan Hamid Hassan told the council his country was opposed to the special session, insisting that "what is happening in Sudan is an internal affair", and cautioning the session could distract from efforts to achieve a lasting ceasefire.
German ambassador Katharina Stasch flatly rejected that idea, insisting to the council that "peace and the respect for human rights go hand in hand."
US ambassador Michele Taylor also stressed "the negotiations to establish ceasefire and get desperately needed humanitarian assistance flowing to the people of Sudan can and must occur at the same time that our council fulfils its role and mandate in addressing the dire human rights situation."
"This is the moment to send a clear message to the parties of the conflict that the world is watching."
"There must be accountability for the horrific events taking place," agreed British foreign Office minister Andrew Mitchell, speaking via video message.
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