Sudan’s ‘Internationalized’ Conflict Could Spill into Chad, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Security Council Warned
As the flames of war continue to engulf Sudan, the Security Council today was urged to prevent the horrors of this conflict from recurring and stop those enabling the violence from spreading instability further across the region.
“Each passing day brings staggering levels of violence and destruction,” said Khaled Khiari, Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific in the Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations. Reporting that the conflict has recently centred on the Kordofan region, he said that the Rapid Support Forces captured the town of Babanusa on 1 December and the Heglig oil field on 8 December. Kadugli and Dilling, both in South Kordofan, are now under siege. He also pointed to the reported movement of armed groups across the border between Sudan and South Sudan in both directions, “with potentially destabilizing effects for both countries”.
He also spotlighted a “particularly alarming” feature of the conflict — namely, the growing use of indiscriminate drone strikes by both parties. Detailing affected targets, he noted a kindergarten and hospital hit on 4 December, a UN logistics base struck in Kadugli and six peacekeepers serving with the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) killed. He went on to state that the continued supply of weapons remains a key driver of the conflict, emphasizing that “Sudan is saturated with arms”. Adding that the parties remain unwilling to compromise or de-escalate, he observed: “While they were able to stop fighting to preserve oil revenues, they have so far failed to do the same to protect their population.”
Preventing further deterioration of the situation requires swift, coordinated action and — for its part — he urged the Council to send a clear and united message: “Those who enable this war will be held accountable.” He also urged the organ to use “all the tools at its disposal” to demand peace and protect civilians.
Detailing their plight, Edem Wosornu, Director of the Crisis Response Division in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, stressed: “The brutality of this conflict appears to have no bounds.” The Kordofan states are a new epicentre of violence and suffering, and she reported that “staggering” levels of humanitarian needs also persist across Darfur. Access to El Fasher is still unsafe amid continued allegations of grave abuses — including mass killings and sexual violence — during and after the Rapid Support Forces’ takeover of the city. And, citing UN reports on the assault of the Zamzam refugee camp, she described the deliberate killing of civilians, “gruesome sexual violence” and the prolonged blocking of supplies essential for survival.
Stressing that humanitarian resources and capacities are severely stretched, she also warned of a collapse of health protection as the World Health Organization (WHO) has documented 65 attacks on healthcare since January. While the humanitarian response continues — reaching some 16.8 million people since January — she underscored: “Our system is under unprecedented strain and, increasingly, under direct attack.” She therefore urged the Council to send a “strong, unequivocal” message that atrocities “will not be tolerated” and stressed that the organ cannot allow the horrors that unfolded in El Fasher to repeat.
Similarly, Cameron Hudson, independent analyst and consultant on African security, governance and geopolitics, called on the international community to “cease simply admiring the problem and take measurable actions”. El Fasher — a city of roughly 1 million people a year ago — today has only 70,000-100,000 people remaining and thousands, if not tens of thousands, have been killed. Now, the Rapid Support Forces have set their strategic sights on neighbouring Kordofan states and, left unchecked, an all-out battle for control of the city of El Obeid — the capital of North Kordofan state — will emerge. This, he warned, promises to be the most destructive battle yet.
He also said that, over the course of the last year, this conflict has morphed from a conventional war fought with aging heavy equipment and light arms to a modern conflict deploying the latest generation of advanced weaponry. Weapons from as many as a dozen countries have been found to be in use by both sides. “Many of those countries providing weapons actively decry the civilian casualties inflicted by the same arms they provide,” he said, while others sit on the Council. He added that the United Arab Emirates has constructed an extensive military air bridge operation, flying weapons to the Rapid Support Forces via client regimes in Chad, Libya, the Central African Republic, South Sudan and Somalia’s Puntland region.
Against that backdrop, he underscored that expanding the arms embargo on Sudan to cover the entire country is an overdue requirement. “This is not simply a civil war between warring generals seeking power and personal aggrandizement; it is a fully internationalized conflict with arms, financial and political networks extending across continents,” he said, warning: “If we think these same networks won’t support the region’s next war in Chad or South Sudan or Ethiopia, we are mistaken.”
“Atrocities cannot go unpunished,” declared the representative of Algeria, also speaking for Guyana, Sierra Leone and Somalia, as the floor opened. Accountability, then, must be pursued through sanctions, investigations and possible prosecutions. “These measures should not only target those who kill, torture, starve or maim innocent people, but also those who enable, who finance, who facilitate such crimes,” he urged. In that vein, the representative of the United Kingdom called for full compliance with the arms embargo and urged States to refrain from supporting the warring parties.
Calls to Stop External Military Support
“All external forces should refrain from providing military support to local armed groups and avoid adding fuel to the flame,” said China’s representative. Sudan continues to receive weapons, as well as logistical and financial support that enables hostilities, pointed out the representative of Slovenia, Council President for December, as he spoke in his national capacity. Also calling on all external actors to halt the transfer of materiel, he said: “In a war defined by mass atrocities, there is no neutral supply chain.” France’s representative, too, pointed to external actors fuelling both the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces, stressing that “these actions exacerbate the regionalization of the conflict”.
Many Council members also condemned the drone attack on UNISFA, including the representatives of Panama, Greece and the Republic of Korea. The latter, condemning the current culture of impunity on the ground, stressed: “Attacks against UN peacekeepers may constitute war crimes, and those responsible must be held fully accountable.” The representative of the United States urged accountability for the atrocities committed by the Rapid Support Forces in El Fasher and the reported use of chemical weapons by the Sudanese Armed Forces. For her part, Denmark’s representative noted that the European Union has adopted restrictive sanctions against the Rapid Support Forces’ second-in-command.
Prevent El Fasher-like Atrocities from Happening in Kordofan
Recalling that the Council was repeatedly warned about the consequences of inaction before El Fasher fell, Pakistan’s representative spotlighted the massacre’s “clear” lesson: “Where siege tactics, starvation and indiscriminate attacks against civilians are not stopped, more grave atrocities follow.” He urged: “We cannot allow Kordofan to become the next chapter in the same tragedy.” The representative of the Russian Federation also expressed concern over the destructive actions of the Rapid Support Forces in the south of Sudan, joining others in rejecting attempts to form parallel power structures. “The legitimacy of Sudan’s current Government should not be questioned,” he said, urging the Council to back the Prime Minister’s reform road map.
Sudan’s ‘Homemade’ Peace Initiative
Presenting his Government’s “homemade” peace initiative, Sudan’s Transitional Prime Minister, Kamil El-Tayeb Idris, summarized it as follows: “A ceasefire that can be monitored, disarmament that can be enforced, justice that is not selective and reconciliation that is not superficial.” He urged the Council to offer Sudan its “undivided attention and full support”, underscoring that the initiative “can mark the moment when Sudan stepped back from the edge and the international community — you — stood on the right side of history.”
“Sudan must not be allowed to fade” from global attention, urged the representative of Türkiye. Detailing his country’s support, he pointed to resumed bank operations, restarted flights between Istanbul and Port Sudan, maintained diplomatic presence, a Turkish hospital in the city of Nyala and the shipment of tons of aid. Egypt’s representative said that his country has opened its doors to citizens fleeing the conflict and is providing humanitarian supplies — an Egyptian medical convoy is on its way to Sudan “as we speak today”, he added.
Meanwhile, the representative of the United Arab Emirates rejected the allegations made against his country. One fact is clear “amid the fog of war”, he said: “Both sides have committed war crimes.” The international community must not stand by as this ongoing civil war generates spillover risks for Sudan’s neighbours, he stressed, adding that the path forward must deny violent extremist groups, linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, space, resources and legitimacy. “Only an independent, civilian-led Government can address the root causes of this conflict,” he stressed, describing the United States-led Quad process as “the most viable framework” to achieve this.
Complete Live Blog coverage of today's meeting can be found here.
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* The 10076th Meeting was closed.