The Sudanese Army joins the truce decreed on the occasion of Eid al Adha

UNHCR warns of the difficulty in accessing the areas affected by the conflict in the country

27 (EUROPA PRESS)

The head of the Army and president of the Sovereign Transitional Council of Sudan, Abdelfatá al Burhan, announced on Tuesday that he is joining the truce on the occasion of Eid al Adha, one of the most important rites on the Islamic calendar.

“Eid arrives this year with our country subjected to a plot that seeks to break the unity of this country, fragment its social fabric and displace its people,” he declared in a speech, going so far as to describe it as “ethnic cleansing” and “genocide”. “the attacks in different parts of the country, such as El Geneina, Khartoum or Nyala.

In this sense, Al Burhan has highlighted that gangs and mercenaries are being “used” to “destroy the infrastructure of the State”, as well as to do violence to the population. “These acts of murder, rape, looting and robbery have become a feature of these rebel groups,” he added.

In this sense, he has directly accused the leader of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, alias ‘Hemedti’, of building the future of the country “on the remains and skulls of the Sudanese people”.

“All this is to achieve the personal ambitions of a group that rebelled against the state and used weak souls, as well as mercenaries, to satisfy their lust for power,” he said, adding that it is necessary “to be ready” to face “existential threats” to the Sudanese state.

‘Hemedti’ has declared this Tuesday “a unilateral armistice for the two days of Arafah and the first day of Eid al Adha, except in cases of self-defense.” “We hope that these days will be an opportunity for tolerance and reconciliation among all the components of our honorable people,” he previously said.

LACK OF ACCESS TO AFFECTED AREAS

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has warned this Tuesday about the difficulty of accessing the areas affected by the conflict, which has displaced more than two and a half million people since April 15, with more of 560,000 civilians seeking refuge in neighboring countries such as Chad, South Sudan, Ethiopia or the Central African Republic.

“We are particularly concerned about the worsening situation in (western) Darfur, where, according to reports from colleagues on the ground, the conflict has reached alarming levels, making it virtually impossible to provide vital aid to affected populations,” said the High UNHCR Assistant Commissioner for Operations, Raouf Mazou, from Geneva.

Fighting in the capital, Khartoum, and in other parts of the country, such as in the Kordofan region, has left thousands of civilians isolated, while many who have been forced to flee are doing so in “extremely dangerous and difficult” conditions. , with the risk of suffering numerous abuses.

The rain is also affecting the delivery of humanitarian aid to those most in need.

In South Sudan, poor infrastructure and security concerns make movement of new arrivals even more difficult. UNHCR has warned that the assistance is being transported by air, which is “expensive” and “complex”, although its teams are registering new arrivals and facilitating their transfer as soon as possible.

On the other hand, UNHCR has developed “safe spaces” in Chad to advise the displaced and guarantee their mental health. Likewise, more than 26,000 of every 120,000 people have been transferred from the border area to refugee camps.