Guterres says “flow of weapons” to Sudan “must stop”

After the US accused the United Arab Emirates of breaking its pledge to stop supplying arms to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan, UN chief Antonio Guterres has called for the influx of weapons entering Sudan to stop immediately, The New Arab and agencies reported on February 14.

“Civilians must be protected, safe humanitarian access must be facilitated and the flow of weapons must stop,” Guterres said as leaders met in Ethiopia to engage in talks about the crisis in Sudan.

The military aid is being used to fuel the conflict between the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), the UN cheif added, calling the current situation an “unprecedented humanitarian crisis on the African continent” that has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and more than 12 million people displaced.

According to a BBC report published in November, more than 61,000 people have been killed in Khartoum state since the fighting began in 2023. Out of those who have died during the civil war, 26,000 people were killed as a direct result of the violence and the leading cause of death across the Sudan was preventable disease and starvation.

Many more people have also been killed elsewhere in the country, particularly in Darfur. The western region has also seen numerous atrocities and acts of ethnic cleansing being reported.

Women and girls have been disproportionately affected by the humanitarian crisis, a UN Women report found. The number of women and girls calling for gender-based violence related services has increased by 100 percent since the beginning of the crisis and there have been rising reports of conflict-related sexual violence, sexual exploitation, and abuse – particularly in Khartoum, Darfur and Kordofan.

“Many more cases of abuse perpetrated against displaced women and girls go unreported due to a fear of stigma from other community members and inadequate support,” the report added.

The United Arab Emirates recently urged the warring groups to engage in a “humanitarian pause” in Sudan during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan. The Sudanese Army later accused the UAE of supporting the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The UAE have denied the allegation.

“We are hopeful that by having this humanitarian pause we will be able to deliver aid unhindered… to those that need it the most, particularly women and children who are suffering in unprecedented ways,” the UAE’s minister of state for international cooperation, Reem al-Hashimy, told AFP.

“This war has really gone on for too long, cost too many lives and brought about immense suffering,” she said, announcing that the UAE would also make an additional $200 million pledge towards humanitarian aid in Sudan.

Moussa Faki, the chair of the African Union, also called for an “immediately and permanently ceasefire”. Faki went on to call the conflict “the moral failure of our time.”

The New Arab and agencies, BBC, UN Women