S/PV.9581 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 Security Council will hear a briefing by Ambassador Joonkook Hwang, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Korea 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 Hwang. Mr. Hwang: 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 Committee established pursuant to resolution 1591 (2005) concerning the Sudan, covering the period from 13 December 2023 to today. During the reporting period, the Committee issued its annual report for 2023 (see S/2023/1043), which is available on the Committee’s website, held informal consultations and received the final report of the Panel of Experts on the Sudan on 22 December 2023 (see S/2024/65) and its third quarterly report on 23 February. The Panel’s final report was made publicly available on 1 March. In both the final and quarterly reports, the Panel updated the Committee on the increasing violence against civilians, including widespread cases of sexual and gender-based violence in the conflict across Darfur, particularly West Darfur. The Panel reported on violations of the arms embargo, violations of international humanitarian and human rights law, ethnically based recruitment by the warring parties, complex financing schemes established by armed groups that are active in Darfur and increasing divisions within the Darfurian armed movements, as well as on regional dynamics and mediation efforts. On 15 January, during informal consultations, the Committee members discussed the content of the final report presented by the Panel of Experts. Following the discussions, the Committee considered the Panel’s recommendations and follow-up actions. In that regard, on 6 February the Committee issued a press release reminding the parties to the conflict in Darfur to adhere to their obligations under international humanitarian law, among them their obligations to protect civilians from violence, including by protecting women and children from sexual violence and children from recruitment into their armed forces. The Committee also reminded the parties that those who commit violations of international humanitarian law and other atrocities may be subject to targeted sanctions measures in accordance with paragraph 3 (c) of resolution 1591 (2005). The Committee reminded the parties and Member States that facilitate the transfers of arms and military materiel to Darfur of their obligations to comply with the arms embargo measures. The Committee reiterated that those who violate the arms embargo may be designated for targeted measures in accordance with paragraph 3 (c) of resolution 1591 (2005). The press release is available on the Committee’s website. In conclusion, I would like to take this opportunity to underline that the purpose of the sanctions regime is to contribute to bringing about peace in Darfur. The Committee remains committed to working with all relevant stakeholders in order to achieve that goal.

I thank Ambassador Hwang for his briefing. I now give the floor to those Council members who wish to make statements.

I thank Ambassador Hwang for the report of the Chair of the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1591 (2005) concerning the Sudan (see S/2023/1043). The United States is concerned about the rapidly deteriorating situation in the Sudan. We are grateful for today’s briefing, which informs the international community about the work of the Committee and the scope and nature of the atrocities in Darfur. We would like to thank the Panel of Experts on the Sudan for its vital reporting, and we applaud the Council for recently adopting a 12-month renewal of the Panel’s mandate (resolution 2725 (2024)). The additional 12 months will afford the Panel the opportunity to provide the Council with insight into factors exacerbating the insecurity in Darfur and recommendations to address them. The renewed mandate and the Panel investigations that it makes possible will enable action to limit the movement of arms into Darfur and support the international efforts to end the ongoing conflict. Taking stock of the current situation and the scale of atrocities being committed, I would like to highlight several points of concern to the Council. In December 2023, the United States determined that members of the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) were committing war crimes in the Sudan. We also determined that members of the RSF and allied militias were committing ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. We are concerned about findings in the Panel’s January report (see S/2024/65) that highlighted the RSF’s acts of sexual violence and kidnapping and its continued targeting of the Masalit community. We call on the Sudanese Armed Forces and the RSF to cease those atrocities immediately, meet their obligations under international law and protect civilians from violence. Those who commit such violations should be designated under the sanctions. We urge the Committee to apply targeted sanctions measures to help address that violence and send a signal to the perpetrators of such abuses that they will be held accountable. Similarly, we urge the Council to take action to stop the flow of arms into Darfur. We remain concerned about the reports of blatant violations of the United Nations arms embargo, particularly the scale and frequency of the transit of weapons into Darfur from eastern Chad, Libya and the Central African Republic. We are committed to sharing information on such transfers with the Panels of Experts on the Central African Republic and the Sudan, and we urge other Member States to facilitate the efforts of United Nations sanctions panels to carry out their mandates. We call on all Member States and warring parties to comply fully with the arms embargo measures. External parties that provide support in the form of materiel to the warring parties in violation of the arms embargo are complicit in the loss of thousands of lives and the devastation of many more. In September the Council will review the existing sanctions measures under resolution 1591 (2005). I urge all Council members to support their renewal, and I urge the Council to take action to bring peace and stability to the people of Darfur. The United States remains committed to helping the people of the Sudan and working with the United Nations to halt the bloodshed, protect civilians and bring peace to the country.

I thank the Chair of the Committee established pursuant to resolution 1591 (2005) concerning the Sudan for his briefing. The report of the Panel of Experts of the Sanctions Committee (see S/2024/65) describes the violations of human rights and international humanitarian law committed in Darfur by the parties to the conflict. It also highlights actions that are fuelling the conflict in the Sudan, such as complex financing networks and arms deliveries that violate the embargo. France condemns all the violence committed in the Sudan, whoever the perpetrators are, and we are particularly concerned about the atrocities committed against populations in Darfur based on their ethnicity. We reiterate our call for all foreign actors to refrain from arming, financing or giving logistical support to the parties. The sanctions regime is one of the ways in which the Security Council supports the settlement of the conflict in the Sudan.

I thank Ambassador Hwang for his update this morning. The United Kingdom wishes him every success in chairing the Committee established pursuant to resolution 1591 (2005) concerning the Sudan. We are approaching the one-year anniversary of this conflict. It has had a disastrous impact on the Sudanese people, especially in Darfur, where more than half the local population is facing acute food insecurity. The imperative for silencing the guns could not be clearer. The United Kingdom repeats the Council’s call for an immediate ceasefire, including during the month of Ramadan. We further call on the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces to adhere to their obligations under international humanitarian law, including to protect civilians. We are extremely concerned about the reports of atrocity crimes, including widespread sexual violence, as well as child recruitment. It is vital to ensure that the perpetrators of atrocity crimes are held to account. The States Members of the United Nations are obliged to fully comply with the arms embargo. We call on all Member States to refrain from external interference in this conflict and instead to support efforts to reach a cessation of hostilities, building towards a durable peace and a civilian transitional Government in the Sudan. In conclusion, we welcome the renewal of the mandate of the United Nations Panel of Experts (resolution 2725 (2024)) and remain grateful for their reporting.

We thank the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Korea, in his capacity as Chair of the Committee established pursuant to resolution 1591 (2005) concerning the Sudan, for his briefing and his leadership of that subsidiary body. The situation in the Sudan remains complex. The intensive hostilities that have continued there since April 2023 have resulted in many victims, including among the civilian population, and the country is witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe. According to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), more than 13,000 people have died during the conflict. Almost 10.7 million Sudanese people have been forced to leave their homes. Half of the country’s population is in need of humanitarian assistance. The country unquestionably needs the support of the international community. At the same time, we are not inclined to overdramatize the humanitarian situation and especially not to use it as leverage for putting pressure on the Sudanese. We would like to remind the Council that the Sudanese authorities took the decision on 5 March to reopen the supply of humanitarian assistance through a number of border crossings with Chad, South Sudan and Egypt and also via some Sudanese airports. Moreover, according to the United Nations country team, Port Sudan approved the 17 March passage of 60 trucks bearing humanitarian assistance via the Adré crossing controlled by the Rapid Support Forces on the border with Chad at El Geneina. Let me point out that OCHA indicated that the situation in that city is increasingly dire. We are sure that this will not be a one-off action. The Sudanese authorities have consistently shown their willingness to cooperate in order to resolve humanitarian issues. Russia wholeheartedly welcomes that position on the part of Port Sudan and calls on other Council members to express their unconditional support too. We support the efforts of Mr. Ramtane Lamamra, the Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Sudan, to achieve peace and stability in the Sudan as soon as possible. We hope that an Algerian Envoy will be able to restore the reputation of our Organization in the eyes of the Sudanese people after the unscrupulous and biased work of the former leadership of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in the Sudan. For our part, we are in favour of a speedy end to the armed clashes and the establishment of an inclusive inter-Sudanese dialogue involving all influential political forces and ethnic and religious groups. In our view, any destructive external interference in the affairs of the friendly nation of the Sudan is unacceptable. We believe that the Sudanese people can and must resolve their internal problems independently. Imposing social and economic solutions and universal democratizing templates of dubious value from outside is unacceptable and counterproductive. Experience has shown that Security Council sanctions have not done a great deal to help normalize the situation in the Darfur region, into which weapons have continued to flow illegally. We believe that any new restrictions imposed by the Council, including the possible expansion of the sanctions regime beyond Darfur, will not help bring peace any closer. Nor do we support the illegal unilateral restrictive measures applied by Western countries and aimed at artificially reshaping the Sudanese political landscape.

I would like to thank our colleague from the Republic of Korea, as Chair of the Committee established pursuant to resolution 1591 (2005) concerning the Sudan, for his briefing. I would like to focus on the fourth paragraph of his briefing, which brings up the subject of obligations under international humanitarian law and provides an account of violations of that international humanitarian law in the context of the conflict in Darfur. More specifically, it mentions the flow of arms and ammunition into Darfur. I would like to point out that there is an embargo on arms and ammunition in that region and that the perpetrators of the traffic in those arms and ammunition are liable to be sanctioned by the Security Council. And I note that, by the end of 90 days, we would like for those responsible for acquiring, financing and transporting and receiving those arms and ammunition to be identified and condemned by our Council.

I now give the floor to the representative of the Sudan.

At the outset, I thank the Chair of the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1591 (2005) concerning the Sudan for his briefing on the quarterly report on the work of the Committee. Over the past few briefings on the work of the Sanctions Committee, the Sudan has repeatedly reaffirmed its steadfast position against the punitive measures imposed by the Security Council on Darfur in accordance with resolution 1591 (2005) and subsequent resolutions. The Sudan’s position is based on the view that the sanctions are no longer appropriate for the current situation in Darfur when compared to the situation that existed in 2005, as they were imposed under a different political system, and the security situation was completely different from what the Sudan is currently witnessing. The ongoing security challenges facing the Sudan make it imperative to reconsider the sanctions. Putting an end to the sanctions will enable the Sudanese Government to better protect civilians and allow the Sudanese Armed Forces to effectively address the violations committed by the Rapid Support militia; the atrocities it has been committing against civilians, women and children; and its systematic destruction of infrastructure, public facilities and civilian objects. The continued imposition of sanctions directly and negatively affects the stabilization process in the Sudan and in the countries of the region that are affected by what is happening in the Sudan. Therefore, we have seen and continue to see that there is a need to immediately lift the sanctions. Our statement will focus on four main points, namely, the implementation of the Juba Agreement for Peace in the Sudan and the position of the signatory parties on the current security situation in the Sudan; the Sudan’s efforts to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance; the violation by some States of Security Council resolutions related to the arms embargo; and the future of the sanctions regime in the light of the Council’s consultations before September. First, with regard to the implementation of the Juba Agreement for Peace in the Sudan and the position of the signatory parties on the current security developments in the Sudan, we would like to note that the Sudanese Government is working in full coordination with most of its partners in the peace process to implement the terms of the Juba Agreement for Peace. In that regard, elements of those movements are being trained in preparation for their integration into the armed forces in line with the enforcement of the security arrangements protocol. Following the killing by the Rapid Support militia of the Governor of West Darfur, who led one of the signatory movements to the Juba Agreement, in addition to the militia’s systematic and widespread violations against civilians in Darfur, some of the movements have voluntarily chosen to support the national position that supports the Sudanese Armed Forces. With that support, those movements seek to contribute to the protection of civilians from those heinous crimes and to restore security and stability to the country, which we welcome. Addressing the aggression and defending lives and property is a right that is guaranteed by all religious, moral and universal doctrines. The Sudan is defending itself justly against a militia that is well known to Council members for its heinous violations against civilians and innocent people perpetrated for more than two decades. That has been documented in numerous reports submitted to the Council. Therefore, we welcome and commend the efforts of all the Sudan’s people to combat the forces of evil. In that regard, the Sudanese Armed Forces and their supportive forces, as they wage this just war, are doing so in strict compliance with international humanitarian law and maintaining distinction between civilians and fighters, proportionality, military necessity and other principles established by international humanitarian law. Secondly, with regard to facilitating the flow of humanitarian assistance, Council members are aware that, a few days ago, the Government of the Sudan undertook several measures aimed at further facilitating humanitarian assistance to its citizens in need. Those measures include the approval to use the Al-Tina crossing from Chad to El Fasher for the delivery of humanitarian aid, in addition to the use of land routes from Port Sudan and Wad Halfa, in northern and eastern Sudan, and other routes from Egypt and South Sudan. We have also approved the use of the airports of the cities of El Fasher, Kadugli and El Obeid to deliver assistance via air transport. Furthermore, the Sudanese authorities, represented by the Humanitarian Aid Commission, granted an exceptional transit permit last week to the United Nations office in the Sudan, allowing the entry of 60 trucks carrying humanitarian aid from the Adré area in Chad to the city of El Geneina in West Darfur state. In the same context, the Humanitarian Aid Commission granted UNICEF and its partners from humanitarian organizations transit permits to deliver humanitarian aid to the city of El Fasher in North Darfur state through the Debba crossing in northern Sudan. The Government of the Sudan reaffirms its commitment to facilitate humanitarian access to those who are affected and need it across the country through sea ports, crossings and airports in accordance with the directives announced by the Government of the Sudan and in line with the United Nations principles for humanitarian action, namely, humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence. In that regard, it is worth noting that the weak flow of humanitarian assistance is not attributable to any impediments to freedom of access to humanitarian assistance, but rather is primarily the result of the failure of donors to fulfil their pledges, as the Secretary-General told the Council in his briefing on the Sudan on 7 March. (spoke in English) “I also urge the international community to provide financial support to the 2024 Sudan humanitarian response plan, which remains significantly underfunded.” (S/PV.9567, p. 3) (spoke in Arabic) Owing to the lack of fulfilment of the pledges, the Country Director of the World Food Programme in Chad announced that food assistance to hundreds of thousands of Sudanese refugees in Chad would stop next month unless more funding were provided. Therefore, it is clear that the issue of humanitarian assistance is a problem of funding and not a problem of crossing points or obstacles. In that regard, we affirm that the Sudan will not accept the politicization of humanitarian assistance or its use as a pretext to exert political pressure or the use of the humanitarian cause as a backdoor to raise the issue in the Security Council unnecessarily. Thirdly, with regard to the violation by some Member States of the Security Council arms embargo, Council members are aware that the final report of the Panel of Experts of the Committee established pursuant to resolution 1591 (2005) concerning the Sudan (S/2024/65) has identified certain States that are arming the Rapid Support militia and other States that allow weapons to pass through their territories that kill civilians and destroy vital facilities and infrastructure. Those States are undoubtedly complicit in the crimes perpetrated by the Rapid Support militia, in flagrant violation of international law and international humanitarian law and with blatant disregard for Council resolutions on the arms embargo and the Charter of the League of Arab States on joint Arab solidarity. It is also surprising that some of the States supporting the Rapid Support Forces in perpetrating their crimes against civilians were members of the Security Council. The Sudan condemns in the strongest terms those States’ acts of aggression against the citizens of the Sudan and the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. We stress that their violations of international laws and norms will be held criminally liable before competent international courts. The Sudan urges the Council to take the necessary measures to include on the sanctions lists those people from the States mentioned who are responsible for providing arms to the militias, including by imposing travel bans on them and freezing their funds, assets and accounts. The Sudan will provide the Sanctions Committee with the names of various foreigners who are involved in providing the militias with arms, logistics and equipment in order to include them on the sanctions lists. Fourthly and finally, earlier this month the Council adopted resolution 2725 (2024), which extended the mandate of the Panel of Experts on Darfur. Operative paragraph 5 of that resolution indicates the Council’s intention to review those sanctions measures by 12 September. We would like to confirm that the Sudan is fully ready to engage positively with the members of the Council to work on that review and bring an end to the sanctions.