UN chief calls for accountability from countries fueling Sudan’s war

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged nations supplying weapons to the warring factions in Sudan, used in attacks on civilians, to face accountability. "What is happening in Sudan is absolutely horrible. The humanitarian situation in Sudan is devastating. The level of suffering of the Sudanese people is intolerable," Guterres told reporters prior to the annual UN leaders summit in New York next week.

The Sudanese conflict began in April 2023 due to a power struggle between the military and the Rapid Support Forces, displacing over 14 million individuals and generating one of the world's gravest humanitarian crises. "It is true that the conflict is fueled by a number of countries from the outside," Guterres stated. "In my opinion, there should be accountability for the kind of interference in which some countries provide weapons to parties to a conflict when those weapons are used massively to attack civilians."

A U.N. inquiry earlier this month revealed that foreign weapons, military equipment, fighters, and logistical networks are sustaining Sudan's conflict and expanding the combatants' capacity to target civilian areas with drones from afar. Sudan plans to initiate a national dialogue amid the ongoing civil war.