S/PV.9416 Security Council

In accordance with rule 37 of the Council’s provisional rules of procedure, I invite the representative of the Sudan to participate in this meeting. The Security Council will now begin its consideration of the item on its agenda. At this meeting, the Council will hear a briefing by Ambassador Harold Adlai Agyeman, Permanent Representative of Ghana to the United Nations, in his capacity as Chair of the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1591 (2005), concerning the Sudan. I now give the floor to Ambassador Agyeman. Mr. Agyeman: In accordance with paragraph 3 (a) (iv) of resolution 1591 (2005), I have the honour to brief the Security Council on the work of the Sudan Sanctions Committee, covering the period from 16 June to today. During the reporting period, the Committee received the interim report of the Panel of Experts on the Sudan, pursuant to resolution 1591 (2005), as renewed by resolution 2676 (2023). The Committee also met once in informal consultations, on 11 August, and heard a presentation by the Sudan Panel of Experts on its interim report. The interim report was presented amid the escalation of violence in Khartoum and its quick spread to Darfur as a result of the fighting that has been ongoing between the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese armed forces since 15 April. In its interim report, the Panel informed the Committee of the deteriorating security and humanitarian situation in Darfur. The intensified fighting, in particular in El Geneina, led to the displacement of the civilian population to neighbouring countries. Schools, mosques and hospitals were also targeted, while homes and compounds of international non-governmental organizations and the United Nations were looted. In conclusion, I would like to note that the Panel is continuing its investigations and is expected to present the final report in January 2024. The Committee will continue to be responsive to the needs of the Council as expressed in the relevant resolutions.

I thank Ambassador Agyeman for his briefing. I now give the floor to the representative of the Sudan.

At the outset, I would like to congratulate you, Mr. President, on Albania’s assumption of the presidency of the Security Council for the month of September. I would also like to thank the Ambassador of Ghana, Chair of the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1591 (2005) concerning the Sudan, for his periodic report. I would like to begin by stressing that the Sudanese armed forces are continuing their just defensive war against the rebellious Rapid Support militia, which has waged a full war of aggression against the Sudanese State since 15 April. The Government of the Sudan is in control of the political and security situation and is communicating with all regional and international stakeholders to end the war and the suffering of the citizens. It is worth mentioning that the position of the Sudanese Government to end the rebellion has the full support from all segments of Sudanese society, which categorically rejects the presence of the rebellious Rapid Support Forces and their affiliates in any political and security arrangement in the Sudan, in particular after those forces were dissolved by a sovereign decision after the broad and systematic crimes that they committed in Khartoum and the Darfur region. Proof of that are the atrocious events in West Darfur state and El Geneina city. We expect the Panel of Experts established pursuant to resolution 1591 (2005) on Darfur to document those crimes in its reports to the Sanctions Committee. In that context, we welcome the United States imposition of sanctions against the deputy commander of the insurgent militia and its leader in West Darfur for planning and overseeing the crimes committed against Sudanese civilians, including sexual violence and killings related to the conflict on the basis of ethnicity. Accordingly, we call on other States to condemn those heinous crimes and hold accountable the militia leaders responsible for crimes against the Sudanese people and State. Those crimes have led to undermining national, regional and international security. Vulnerable groups suffer the most, including women and children. Those crimes include the systematic destruction of the economy and markets, undermining sustainable development priorities, increasing the number of displaced persons, halting production and seriously hampering the production of foodstuffs in both urban and rural areas while obstructing agricultural and industrial activities. There is no doubt that the goal of the militias is to impose a destructive settlement plan for which they have summoned fighters and mercenaries from a number of States. The presence in Darfur of amoral armed militias that obey no laws is a violation of resolution 1591 (2005). However, the resolution prohibits armed forces from transferring weapons and military equipment to the Darfur region, which encourages those forces and affiliated militias to traffic in arms and drugs. That situation limits the State’s ability to control its borders and repel the militias. We cannot allow the reckless militias and their leaders to transform the region into a new Tora Bora and to destabilize regional and international peace. We must therefore support the State in controlling the region and reinforcing its military presence in order to fill the security vacuum in the region and prevent the closure of its western borders. If we fail to strengthen that effort it will inevitably affect regional and international peace. The rebel forces and their mercenaries are opening many new battlefronts in Darfur and elsewhere with the aim of exhausting the army, and some countries are giving them financial and military support to do that. What is worse — and this is a new element in the conflict — is that the ongoing fighting is being promoted as a religious task by supporters of the Rapid Support Forces, for which some religious leaders in the Sahel come up with specific reasoning to justify violations and impose the doctrine of the Hidden Imam. I mention that to demonstrate the multiple dimensions of the issue. The United Nations must therefore change its narrative and response to this armed aggression, which is being fuelled by political and commercial circles, elites and religious leaders. The Sudan is facing this challenge alone on behalf of the world. The international community must take into consideration the security, demographic and environmental changes taking place in the Sahel region and their impact on Darfur and peace in the region. Climate change has led to droughts, and more than 85 million Africans will have been displaced by 2050. The numbers of those who are internally displaced or unemployed are rising, making it easier to recruit young people into armed movements, either with financial or political incentives or the promise of finding an El Dorado in the Nile Valley, as the grave events that the Sudan is confronting alone have shown. Poverty, unemployment, a lack of social justice, armed conflict and climate change are all factors that are further undermining peace in the region. Desertification, climate change and drought are promoting a pastoral mindset and reinforcing the phenomenon of cultural pastoralism. That has shaped the popular mindset across borders, which is now reflected in the form of mythological religious representations, as in the context of the Da’esh and Boko Haram movements, in which people meet their needs through looting and war. There are circles that are exploiting the situation with a view to changing the political map from the Nile Valley to the western Atlantic. That hinders peacebuilding efforts because it ensures continued conflict, undermines hope for democracy and the rule of law and threatens development efforts and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals while limiting the chances of establishing a stable international order in which people enjoy security, peace and the observance of human rights. We call on the Security Council to consider that narrative in its debates and to reconsider conflicts and their causes in Africa with the aim of finding an alternative approach to sustaining realistic peace through new capabilities. That involves engaging with stakeholders in the region and a practical return to peacebuilding in conflict-affected communities by implementing the Secretary-General’s recent proposal for a New Agenda for Peace. I therefore call on the Security Council to exercise its authority under Article 41 of the Charter of the United Nations to add to the list of persons under sanctions those whom the Sudanese Government allowed to be represented at the highest levels but who chose to join this new wave of violence. They have rejected all the opportunities offered to them to take part in the political process after the civil war and now promote the rebel militias and their fighting. That exacerbates the burden on fragile communities and exposes women, children and girls to the scourge of war. It has become clear that our country is currently paying the price of the international community’s failure to contribute to peacebuilding in the Sudan by supporting the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration process. The current situation is creating what political scientists refer to as a political bazaar — a political marketplace that ensures the exchange of benefits, political services and loyalties through financial incentives known as monetized patronage. In that context, the warring parties routinely employ violence to maximize their spoils, create conflict and incite violence, and use that as capital to acquire further spoils. This chaotic system has its own sponsors, supporters and beneficiaries. We have seen it at work in the Horn of Africa. It has become a system for fostering destructive chaos controlled by those who oversee it. That distorts the economic market cycle and burdens citizens through the plunder of resources and precious metals that are not part of State treasuries. This new system relies on the use of non-State actors who employ asymmetric tactics of war and perpetuate the cycle of violence, backed by external motives, in order to dismantle national States. We thank the United States Government for announcing that it will provide an additional $165 million for humanitarian work in the Sudan. One very important factor mentioned in the Secretary-General’s report (S/2023/644) is that the Rapid Support Forces have targeted United Nations premises using what are described as criminal groups operating in areas under their control in order to obtain consumables, petroleum, food, drinking water and cars in Khartoum and Darfur, and have established military staging bases in residential locations. During the reporting period, from 7 May to 20 August, the report cites 175 security violations against personnel from governmental and non-governmental organizations, as well as the United Nations Security Management System (UNSMS), which includes nearly 50 organizations mandated with implementing United Nations operations with reasonably limited risks with the aim of achieving effective management within the changing environment created by the war and the crimes committed by the Rapid Support Forces in Darfur. The African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies has mentioned that since April we have been seeing an increase in the efforts by the Rapid Support Forces to occupy and control civilian homes and buildings, including a number of United Nations offices that are part of UNSMS, in order to convert them into operations centres. That has led to an increase in threats to the United Nations and its agencies, including the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the International Labour Organization, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, the United Nations Office for Project Services and the Global Fund. That systematic aggression has included the looting of about 60 United Nations premises, including offices, stores, warehouses, sites, workshops and residential houses, in addition to the looting of 230 United Nations vehicles. Are those not crimes against the international community aimed at disrupting the work of the United Nations and world peace? Has the international community made peace with Boko Haram or with Da’esh, has it sat with them at the negotiating table? The international community must not allow a new generation of terrorists to revolt against the State, turn into a devilish Frankenstein and possess advanced weaponry, supported by regional actors that target an entire nation under shameful pretexts with a view to changing the demography of an entire nation based on ethnicity. Since the goal of the United Nations is to develop international law, I call on Member States to enact new laws that prevent the emergence of armed entities organized on ethnic grounds, because they undermine the safety and security of States and national armies, exert political authority and control resources. They also weaken political parties, which are the basis of the democracy that is demanded by oppressed peoples. Those armed organizations also eliminate peoples’ revolutions, and the Sudanese revolution has become a form of civilian patriotism for achieving reforms and is not the sole right of a certain elite group. The security situation in north Darfur state has been affected by the Rapid Support Forces’ attack against the Sudanese Armed Forces, which brought an end to basic services in health centres and hospitals. Some hospitals have been converted into barracks for the Rapid Support Forces militia. In El Fasher, which is the capital of the state, the militia is in control of the eastern neighbourhoods and restricts the movement of civilians. They also recruit children to fight in Khartoum and have taken control of the children’s hospital in order to treat their injured elements. The state has also witnessed the end of banking services and the closure of most markets, as civilians are afraid of acts of theft by the militia and affiliated outlaws. In South Darfur state, since the start of the events in April, the state has been targeted throughout the region. Militia forces have been looting markets and banks while forcing citizens out of their homes. Children have been forcibly recruited in Nyala, the capital of the state, banks and markets were looted in the city, and milita forces seized control of government hospitals. The militia forces also cut all communication networks in the state, which is suffering from a lack of health services because those forces control all government hospitals. In West Darfur state, the Rapid Support Forces militia killed the state Governor, Khamis Abakar, and mutilated his body. It attacked the city of El Geneina, looting all markets, banks, police stations and hospitals, as well as all neighbourhoods of the Masalit tribe, leading to the displacement of all the families, who fled to the area under the command of the 15th Infantry Division and its neighbourhood. Most of the Masalit population fled to neighbouring Chad, despite an agreement with civilian administration leaders. Services and communication there remain interrupted. In conclusion, militias in Zalinji, Central Darfur state, have attacked banks and markets and converted hospitals into military barricades. They shelled neighbourhoods there, leading to the deaths, injury and kidnapping of many unarmed civilians. Those militias also rape young girls in certain neighbourhoods. I call on the Security Council to focus on that threat, and we hope that it will address it.