UN Secretary-General condemns Sudan airstrike that killed 22 News
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UN Secretary-General condemns Sudan airstrike that killed 22

The office of UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Saturday formally condemned that day’s airstrike in Omdurman, Sudan that claimed 22 lives. The attack was the latest in the conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and a renegade paramilitary force, the Rapid Support Forces (“RSF”). The belligerents have been fighting for control of the capital Khartoum since early April. It is unclear at this time which party is responsible for the airstrike.

The apparent fighter jet strike took place in the Dar es Salaam district of Omdurman, an area that has been the centre of the conflict recently, as it is a key supply route for the RSF. The Khartoum state health ministry told Reuters that 22 people were killed. However, the RSF claims that the true death toll was 31. The RSF blamed the Sudanese Army for the attack, while the army claims that the RSF bombed the area while the army’s fighter jets were overhead. This strike may have resulted in one of the largest death tolls in a single attack of the conflict so far.

The United Nations warned that Sudan is on the verge of a “full-scale civil war, potentially destabilising the entire region”, and Egypt volunteered to host a July 13th summit to discuss ways to end this conflict. This aims to “develop effective mechanisms” to enable diplomacy between the parties, despite previous attempts being unsuccessful. Egypt has been particularly affected by the conflict, as they are often considered to be the Sudanese army’s most important foreign ally, and they have been impacted by the massive number of people fleeing from the conflict.

According to Sudan’s federal health ministry, at least 1,133 people have been killed in the conflict. More than 2.9 million have been uprooted, and there has been a massive rise in rape and the abduction of women and girls. Issues like these are why the Secretary-General’s office said there is an “utter disregard for humanitarian and human rights law” in the conflict that the statement called “dangerous and disturbing” and that the summit hopes to finally end.

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