United States Encourages UN Security Council To Take Action To End War In Sudan

US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield. (Wikimedia Commons/US Department of State)

JAKARTA - The United States on Wednesday prompted the UN Security Council to take action to help end the conflict between the military and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary in Sudan, which has been going on for nearly a year.

The United States said the warring parties had committed war crimes, while RSF and its allied militias also committed crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing.

Meanwhile, the United Nations says nearly 25 million people, half Sudan's population, need help and about 8 million people have fled their homes and hunger is increasing.

"It is clear that this is an urgent matter of peace and security and requires greater attention from the Security Council," US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield told Reuters in a statement.

"The council must act immediately to ease human suffering, hold the perpetrators accountable, and end the conflict in Sudan. Time is running out," he exclaimed, without specifying what action the 15-member council should take.

Since the war broke out on April 15, 2023, the UN Security Council has only issued three press statements condemning and expressing concern about the war. The same was also expressed in a resolution in December that shut down the UN political mission, following a request from the acting Sudanese Foreign Minister.

It is known that about 10,000 to 15,000 people were killed in just one city in Sudan's West Darfur region last year in ethnic violence perpetrated by RSF and its allied Arab militias, according to a UN sanctions monitor report seen by Reuters last month.

"I am very disappointed that the accusations detailed in this report have received little attention, both within the UN Security Council and outside the United Nations," said Thomas-Greenfield, who visited a refugee camp in Chad near the border with Darfur, Sudan in 2017. September.

The Sudanese government recently banned aid deliveries via Chad, which effectively closed an important supply route to the vast Darfur region, which is controlled by rivals RSF.Thomas-Greenfield described the move as an "unacceptable" act for threatening "critical rescue routes."