UN representative to Sudan, Volker Perthes, steps down - War in Sudan - War in Sudan
Ahram OnlineSep 13, 2023
The UN Joint Human Rights Office has received "credible reports" that at least 13 mass graves exist around the West Darfur city of El Geneina, claimed Sudan's UN envoy Volker Perthes as he announced his resignation on Wednesday.
In his final speech to the UN Security Council, Perthes alleged that the mass graves contained victims of attacks by the paramilitary RSF and allied Arab militias on civilians and, "if verified, may constitute war crimes."
The atrocities in Darfur show that the conflict between the Sudanese military and the RSF is on the verge of full escalation. While neither side appears close to a decisive military victory, the conflict could now escalate into a full-blown civil war. Both sides are guilty of crimes against civilians and must be held accountable.
Twenty years after Darfur dominated the headlines, the RSF is perpetrating systematic genocide and exploiting the chaos to continue the ethnic cleansing of Darfur from the African tribes. The international community must exhaust all means to end the atrocities.
There's a 50% chance that at least 10K people will die in the Sudan conflict in 2023, according to the Metaculus prediction community.