MIL OSI Translation. Region: Italy –
Source: The Holy See in Italian
Khartoum (Agenzia Fides) – Five months of siege and fighting have exhausted the population of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, considered the last stronghold of the Sudanese armed forces in the region (see Fides 5/5/2024), controlled almost entirely by the rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of General Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo. Over one and a half million people are at risk in the city besieged since April-May and in the nearby refugee camp of Zamzam, 15 km south of El Fasher, where about 260 thousand children live, and where malnutrition rates are out of control. The soldiers of a division of the Sudanese armed forces (SAF) and militiamen from various local armed groups who oppose the RSF have barricaded themselves in the city. A coalition of heterogeneous forces united only by their common opposition to the RSF but who have so far managed to hold their own against Dagalo’s men. Last week the city was hit by a violent RSF offensive which was barely repelled by the defenders with heavy losses on both sides as shown by satellite photos showing recently dug earth mounds, likely evidence of the construction of mass ditches. Faced with the deterioration of humanitarian conditions in El Fasher, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (a body established in 1987 by the then Organization of African Union, now the African Union) has launched an appeal to stop the fighting. “The African Commission condemns in the strongest terms the atrocities perpetrated against civilians in the context of the ongoing fighting in El Fasher, putting in grave danger the hundreds of thousands of refugees who have found shelter in the city” reads a statement on September 21. “The African Commission calls on the parties to the conflict to cease all acts of violence against civilians and to fully respect the principles of discrimination, necessity and proportionality of international humanitarian law.” The Forum of Non-Governmental Organizations in Sudan has also called on the UN General Assembly to take action by the international community to end the Sudanese conflict that broke out in April 2023. “Sudan is experiencing a man-made food crisis of historic proportions, largely caused by the actions and decisions of the parties to the conflict, in violation of international humanitarian law,” the NGOs said. “As of August 2024, more than 25 million people across Sudan are facing severe acute food insecurity and at least 755,000 people facing catastrophic levels of hunger could die in the coming months without urgent and decisive action by the international community,” they said. Over 10 million people have fled their homes since the conflict broke out in April 2023, making Sudan the world’s largest internal displacement crisis, affecting over 5 million children and over 2 million people, who have crossed borders into neighboring countries. Some health facilities report five child deaths a day. (LM) (Agenzia Fides 26/9/2024)Share:
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is a translation. Apologies should the grammar and/or sentence structure not be perfect.