Aerial Assault on UN Base in Conflict-Ravaged Sudan Leaves Six UN Personnel
A drone strike struck a UN logistics base in conflict-ridden Sudan on Saturday, leading to the deaths of six UN soldiers, as stated by a declaration.
The strike impacted a peacekeeping logistics base in the city of Kadugli, found in the mid-country region of Kordofan.
Eight additional personnel were hurt in the assault. Each of the victims are Bangladeshi nationals, part of the UN peacekeeping contingent in Abyei.
“Strikes aimed at United Nations personnel may constitute war crimes under global statutes,” it was declared, urging the perpetrators for the “unjustifiable” strike to be brought to justice.
Military Points Finger at Paramilitary Group
The national army attributed the attack on the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a notorious armed faction that has been engaged in conflict with the army for power in the country for since April 2023.
The attack “demonstrates the subversive nature of the paramilitary group and its supporters,” the army said in a communication.
Background of the Contested Area
The oil-rich Abyei is a contested region between Sudan and South Sudan, and the peacekeeping force has been operating there since 2011, when South Sudan seceded from Sudan.
Calls for an urgent halt to fighting in Sudan were also made to allow “a comprehensive, all-encompassing and nationally led political process” to resolve the conflict.
Country Plunged into Chaos Since 2023
Sudan was thrown into open war in April 2023 when a political rivalry between the military and the RSF exploded into full-scale combat in the city of Khartoum and other parts the country.
- The conflict has killed more than 40,000 people, a figure advocates regard as a significant undercount.
- Recent combat has focused on Kordofan, particularly since fighters seized El Fasher.
- The war has destroyed cities and has been marked by horrors, such as mass rape and ethnic slaughter.
- These crimes have been labeled international crimes by the UN and rights groups.
- The war has also created the world’s worst humanitarian disaster and driven parts of the country into starvation.
