UN warns Sudan conflict at 1,000 days marked by 'staggering violence,' rising humanitarian toll

​​​​​​​By Merve Aydogan

HAMILTON, Canada (AA) - A senior UN official on Thursday warned that the Sudan conflict has reached a 1,000-day milestone, as she condemned the relentless violence and total impunity nearly three years into the hostilities.

"Just over a month ago, Sudan reached a horrific milestone: 1,000 days of a brutal war that has nearly destroyed the third largest country in Africa," UN's Political Affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo told the Security Council.

She described the conflict as marked by "1,000 days of staggering violence and unimaginable suffering" and "1,000 days of total impunity for the perpetrators of a long list of atrocities and war crimes."

As Sudan nears the fourth year of the war, DiCarlo said fighting continues to spread, with frontlines fluctuating in North Darfur, North Kordofan, South Kordofan and Blue Nile states.

In South Kordofan, she noted that the Sudanese Armed Forces reported breaking sieges by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on Kadugli and Dilling, while El Obeid in North Kordofan remains besieged from three sides by the RSF.

She said the RSF has opened a new front in Blue Nile state and long-range drones and aerial strikes by both parties have become a defining feature of the conflict.

"The consequences for civilians and civilian infrastructure are severe. No corner of Sudan is safe from the threat of attack," DiCarlo said, raising the alarm about the risk of a regional spillover and reported movements of armed groups across the Sudan and South Sudan border.

"The time to act to prevent a repeat of atrocities elsewhere in the country is now," she said, stressing that parties "must adhere to international humanitarian law and human rights law" and that "those who violate these laws must be held accountable."

DiCarlo pointed to diplomatic efforts, welcoming progress by Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the United States to secure a humanitarian truce.

- More than 1M displaced across Kordofan region

She emphasized that any ceasefire must be anchored in a credible political process and urged unified action by the Security Council.

On the humanitarian situation, Edem Wosornu, director of the operations and advocacy division at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, described a rapidly deteriorating crisis.

"Nearly three years have passed since this war began, more than 1,000 days in which violence has spread relentlessly, humanitarian needs have deepened, and countless civilian lives have been shattered," she said.

She reported that more than 1 million people are displaced across the Kordofan region, according to the International Organization for Migration, and over 12 million women and girls face a "crisis within a crisis," with demand for lifesaving services surging by 350% since the conflict began.

Wosornu said 4.2 million children and pregnant and breastfeeding women are facing acute malnutrition, while 130 humanitarian workers, nearly all Sudanese, have been killed since the start of the conflict.

Highlighting the "critically low funding," she said that "this year, we want to reach more than 20 million people through our hyper-prioritized Humanitarian Response Plan. But we need funding. And we need it fast."

She urged the Council to press the parties to respect international humanitarian law, protect and facilitate humanitarian workers, and work collectively toward an immediate halt to the fighting, an end to weapons flows into Sudan, and a lasting, inclusive peace.

Sudan has been locked in a bloody conflict between the army and the RSF since April 2023, killing tens of thousands, displacing 13 million people, and creating one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, according to UN reports.