UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan has called for an immediate ceasefire by rival militaries in Sudan during the holy month of Ramadan and for them to seek a sustainable resolution to the prolonged conflict through dialogue.
“Two years of continuous death and destruction has made it amply evident that there can be no victory on the battlefield in Sudan,” Ambassador Usman Iqbal Jadoon, deputy permanent of Pakistan to the UN, told the UN Security Council on Wednesday, stressing that both parties respect the inviolability of human life during the blessed month.
“We call on the parties to implement an immediate, permanent and unconditional ceasefire and engage in dialogue to find a sustainable political resolution for the sake of Sudanese people,” he said in a debate on the situation in Sudan.
The warring parties — the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) led by Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), controlled by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, known as “Hemedti” — had promised a smooth transition of power to civilians after a military coup ousted the long-serving president, Omar al-Bashir, in April 2019.
Five years later, the SAF and RSF failed to fulfill that promise, and their inability to find a compromise on how to rule the country led to the war erupting on April 15, 2023.
In his comments, the Pakistani envoy condemned the attempts for establishment of parallel government in Sudan, saying any scheme that undermines the UN Charter principles will not yield a durable solution to the conflict and further undermine regional and international peace and security.
Pakistan, he said, firmly upholds the unity, independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Sudan.
At the same time, Ambassador Jadoon underscored the need for ending the violations of International Humanitarian Law. “The Jeddah Declaration on Protection of Civilians, which has been agreed by both parties, must be implemented in letter and spirit,” he said.
“The perpetrators of crimes must be held accountable.”
He also reiterated Pakistan’s condemnation of Rapid Support Forces (RSF)’s attack on the only functioning hospital in the besieged El-Fasher – the Saudi Teaching Maternal Hospital, which took more than 70 innocent lives.
