Two years of civil war in Sudan
Twelve million displaced persons, famine, ethnic cleansing - the tally after two years of civil war in Sudan is devastating, with the UN naming it as the world's largest humanitarian crisis. At the end of March, the national army was able to retake the capital Khartoum and other regions from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), but there is no sign of the fighting coming to an end. What comes next?
Make this a priority again!
Three members of the French National Assembly and Senate sound the alarm in Le Monde:
“Civilians are falling prey to violence, persecution and arbitrary rule on a daily basis. The reports and videos we receive document arbitrary executions and torture. Sexual violence is being used by the RSF as a war weapon. Women and girls are held captive for days, even months, and raped. ... Over 25 million people, half the population, are suffering extreme hunger, according to the World Food Programme. ... Sudan must go back to being a priority on the UN agenda. The Security Council could seek at least a minimum consensus for a peace mission with a clear mandate: preventing further massacres and opening up aid transport routes.”
Turning a blind eye is cynical and unwise
The Tages-Anzeiger warns:
“Anyone in Europe who has succumbed to the convenient and cynical hope that the conflict will wear itself out and end soon is misjudging the dynamics: the warring parties control territories that are replete with billions in gold. And they are arming themselves without restraint. ... Even if we want to make it easy on ourselves and exclude questions of morality and humanity from the bundle of realpolitik interests, it would be unwise to simply let this war run its course. Because then it would spread to the unstable neighbours and ignite conflict there, making the problems increasingly unmanageable. And many more people would no doubt try to make their way straight to Europe.”
International legal order at stake here
De Volkskrant demands that Europe intervene in the face of growing violence against aid workers:
“Impunity and lawlessness appear to be the new norm, undermining international law as a binding moral compass. ... That The Hague, but also Brussels, are remaining silent in the face of these war crimes is becoming more intolerable by the day, now that the evidence of ethnic cleansing and genocide is piling up. The fact that even humanitarian aid workers can no longer do their job means the end of the international legal order. Apparently there is no more solidarity; only the law of the jungle applies.”