South Sudan reiterates call for ceasefire to end Sudan conflict
August 13, 2023 (JUBA) – South Sudan backs regional calls for ceasefire and an inclusive political process aimed at ending conflict in Sudan, an official said.
The acting Foreign Affairs minister, Deng Dau Malek said Friday that the recent ministerial mechanism meeting held in Chad endorsed all the initiatives, including the regional bloc’s (IGAD) involvement in efforts to end fighting in Sudan.
He stressed that South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir has not relented in ensuring peace and stability prevails in neighboring Sudan, through peaceful dialogue.
The conflict between Sudan’s army and the Rapid Support Forces (SAF) has killed over 3,000 civilians and displaced nearly 4 million, according to United Nations, amid concerns that up to 25 million people in the country need humanitarian aid.
Malek called for immediate ceasefire and urged the conflicting parties to grant unrestricted access to humanitarian aid for the distressed civilian population.
Speaking exclusively to Sudan Tribune on Sunday, a South Sudanese diplomat in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum said the city is divided into spheres of control, effectively turning it into a war zone, yet there are civilians still holed up in homes.
“Even here in Khartoum, we are confined to the premises of the embassy. We don’t know what takes place before our eyes before the gate of the embassy and I believe this applies to embassies of other countries. The situation is not peculiar to our embassy, the embassy of South Sudan. It is a situation created by war and can only be addressed by the cessation of hostilities agreement which I think will take enormous efforts and time”, he explained.
The diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity, appreciated efforts of the region, the United Nations, the African Union, IGAD, Egypt, the Arab Leagues, Qatar and the United States-Saudi Arabia-led initiative to end the war in Sudan.
Analysts argue that the Sudanese conflict has reopened old wounds between and among communities, mostly in the Darfur region, deepening and widening internal rifts involving various factions, social groups and other political forces.
The conflict started on April 15 between SAF and the RSF, a paramilitary force that fought alongside the Sudanese army against armed dissident groups in Darfur, Blue Nile and South Kordofan state, but has morphed into an intricate geopolitical dynamic, with ethnic and regional undertones playing out in some places.
These dynamics, analyst say, risk turning into localized and polarized communities.
(ST)