UN aid chief slams 'impunity' for atrocities in Sudan's Darfur

UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said atrocities in Darfur have been met with indifference and "complete impunity", in an interview with AFP after a visit to the devastated Sudan region.

"The world has not given enough attention to the Darfur crisis. There is too much indifference and apathy to the massive suffering that we've witnessed there," he said.

Fletcher was speaking to AFP in the Chadian capital following a visit to Darfur just across the border, where last month the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces seized the army's last regional stronghold of El-Fasher.

Fletcher, who met witnesses and survivors of the violence, condemned what he called "a sense of complete impunity behind these atrocities".

Survivor testimonies he heard included accounts of "mass executions, sexual violence on a huge scale, torture, and also that many of those seeking to escape... were then attacked on the road".

According to the United Nations, nearly 100,000 people have fled El-Fasher and surrounding areas since the city's fall, while tens of thousands remain trapped in famine conditions after an 18-month-long siege.

Fletcher said the scale of the needs in both Darfur and Chad, where survivors have scrambled to the border, was huge, including in healthcare, shelter, food, sanitation and education.

- Safe passage -

Now in its third year, Sudan's war has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced nearly 12 million more and triggered what the UN describes as the world's largest displacement and hunger crisis.

Fletcher said his visit accompanied by senior UN officials aimed to enable safe passage for humanitarians and to allow the UN to "operate safely everywhere in Sudan".

"We will operate in all areas of Sudan, whoever controls those areas, on the basis of our principles of neutrality, humanity, independence, and impartiality," he told AFP.

In Port Sudan, the seat of the army-backed government, Fletcher held what he called "constructive" talks with army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, agreeing on the need for the UN and NGOs to operate "without obstacles or impediments".

Fletcher also spoke by phone with RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo and met RSF representatives in Darfur.

He said he stressed the need for "investigations and accountability" and insisted on "complete safe passage to El-Fasher" and guarantees for the safety of aid convoys, which have been previously attacked in Darfur.

"It was a tough conversation," he said, focused on the "practical conditions" required for delivering aid.

- Fighting persists -

Despite international mediation efforts, fighting has continued across Darfur and neighbouring Kordofan.

Last week, an air strike hit a commercial vehicle near Zalingei in Central Darfur, damaging nearby UN vehicles.

In North Kordofan, residents fear an imminent assault on El-Obeid, where a drone attack on a funeral this month killed at least 40 people.

The RSF has also moved forces on the strategic city of Babanusa in West Kordofan, vowing to "fight until the last moment".

The fighting has continued even after the paramilitary agreed to a truce proposal put forward by the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt.

On Friday during a visit to El-Sireha town in central Sudan, Burhan ruled out peace talks.

The fall of El-Fasher has given the RSF control of all five Darfur state capitals, effectively splitting Sudan in two: the army holds the north, east and centre, including Khartoum, while the RSF controls Darfur and parts of the south.