UN Rights Chief Calls for Sudan Peace After Witnessing Trauma and Resilience
Volker Türk briefed journalists in the Kenyan capital following a five-day mission to Sudan, where “a chronicle of cruelty is unfolding before our very eyes”.
He called on “all those who have any influence, including regional actors and notably those who supply the arms and benefit economically from this war” to act urgently to bring it to an end.
Mr. Türk last visited Sudan in November 2022. Back then, he was deeply inspired by civil society—particularly the young people and women who spearheaded the 2018 revolution.
Salute to the people’s struggle for peace
While the war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) “has plunged the country into an abyss of unfathomable proportions” – affecting the entire nation and all its people – “the spirit of the struggle for peace, justice and freedom…is not broken,” he affirmed.
“I bore witness in sudan to the trauma of the unspeakable brutality that people have suffered – but also to the resilience and defiance of the human spirit.”
Mr. Türk met with various sectors of society, including young people who organise and deliver aid to their communities “frequently enough in the face of massive bureaucratic hurdles, risking detention and violence.”
As one volunteer told him, “The price of war is being paid by young people. Sudanese young people are at the frontlines of this war, serving those who are in need of humanitarian aid.”
End ‘intolerable attacks’ on infrastructure
The rights chief highlighted attacks on critical civilian infrastructure,such as the Merowe dam and hydroelectric power station.