Top United Nations (U.N.) officials issued a dire warning to the Security Council on Friday, stating that around 800,000 people in a Sudanese city are in extreme and immediate danger as violence worsens, posing a risk of bloody intercommunal strife throughout Darfur.
As reported by Reuters, the conflict in Sudan erupted a year ago between the Sudanese Army (SAF) and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), resulting in the world's largest displacement crisis.
Rosemary DiCarlo, the U.N.'s political affairs chief, told the 15-member Security Council that clashes between RSF and SAF-aligned members of the Joint Protection Forces were nearing El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur.
"Fighting in El Fasher could unleash bloody intercommunal strife throughout Darfur," DiCarlo said, echoing a warning by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday.
According to U.N. reports, nearly 25 million people, half of Sudan's population, need aid and some 8 million have fled their homes.
The U.N. aid operations director, Edem Wosornu, said in a statement, noting, "The violence poses an extreme and immediate danger to the 800,000 civilians who reside in El Fasher."
She further added, "And it risks triggering further violence in other parts of Darfur – where more than 9 million people are in dire need of humanitarian assistance."
The United Nations-backed global authority on food security emphasized the need for immediate action to prevent widespread death and total collapse of livelihoods and avert a catastrophic hunger crisis in Sudan.
Moreover, in a conference held in Paris on Monday, April 15, donors pledged over $2 billion for war-torn Sudan.
