Sudan: Sudan’s army chief Mr. Abdul Fattah al-Burhan has warned the United Nations that months of war in his country could spill over into the region.
Mr. Burhan, speaking at the UN following a string of foreign trips, urged the international community to designate the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) as a “terrorist” organisation and to target its sponsors outside Sudan’s borders, indicating ties with Russia’s Wagner mercenaries.
According to the army leader, the war is “a threat to regional and international peace and security as those rebels have sought the support of outlaws and terrorist groups from different countries in the region and the world.”
“This is like the spark of war, a war that will spill over to other countries in the region. Regional and international interference to support these groups is crystal clear by now. This means that this is the first spark that will burn the region and will have a direct impact on regional and international peace and security,” Mr. Burhan noted.
“Those who have supported killing, burning, raping, forced displacement, looting, stealing, torture, trafficking of arms and drugs, bringing mercenaries, or recruiting children. All such crimes necessitate accountability and punishment,” the army chief added.
Fighting broke out in Sudan on April 15 after the collapse of a plan to integrate the army and the RSF, led by Mr. Burhan’s former deputy, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who is also known as Hemedti. According to reports, the war that erupted in the capital, Khartoum, has spread to other parts of the country, including the western region of Darfur, killing at least 7,500 people, displacing more than five million people, and threatening to destabilise the region.