LONDON: Drone attacks in Sudan by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces targeting civilians and humanitarian operations are “heinous acts” that cannot be justified, Saudi Arabia told the UN Security Council on Thursday.

The Kingdom “condemns in the most harsh of terms the criminal attacks by the RSF,” said the Saudi ambassador to the UN, Abdulaziz Alwasil.

He referenced strikes on a military hospital and World Food Programme operations, an attack on a bus, and blasts that have killed dozens of civilians, including women and children. The RSF, he said, has also targeted humanitarian convoys in the Kordofan region, which is now one of the main battlegrounds in the war.

“We call on everyone to abide by their moral and humanitarian obligations” to ensure humanitarian access in keeping with the principles of international law, Alwasil said.

The Sundanese Armed Forces and the RSF have been locked in a devastating civil war since April 2023. The latter group, led by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, commonly known as Hemedti, is accused of widespread atrocities and has increasingly resorted to drone attacks on battlefields in Kordofan.

The Security Council meeting on Sudan took place shortly after the publication on Thursday of a report by UN-backed human rights experts that said events during the capture of the city of El-Fasher in Darfur by the RSF in October showed the “hallmarks of genocide.” UN human rights officials have said similar crimes might now be taking place in Kordofan.

UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, who chaired the meeting, described the war in Sudan as the worst humanitarian crisis of the 21st Century: “A war that has left 33 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, 14 million people forced to flee their homes, famine stalking millions of malnourished children.”

Alwasil said Saudi Arabia, through its aid agency KSrelief, had “presented humanitarian assistance in the value of $100 million” since the conflict began.

The “unbearable challenges” the Sudanese people are facing were a direct result of actions “targeting the unity of Sudan and its state institutions,” which had led to the conflict, he added.

Within months of the war breaking out, Saudi Arabia and the US brokered the “Jeddah Declaration,” in which the two warring factions vowed to protect civilians and facilitate aid operations.

The Kingdom continues to support “all efforts aimed at a permanent ceasefire in Sudan, and aimed at an inclusive political process led by the Sudanese,” Alwasil said.

He thanked the US government and its senior adviser for Africa and Middle Eastern Affairs, Massad Boulos, who also addressed the Security Council meeting, for their efforts to help end the conflict.

“Resolving the crisis in Sudan is a deeply felt concern of President Trump, and one that reflects our shared responsibility to the Sudanese people,” Boulos said.

Saudi Arabia was one of the regional countries invited to participate in the Security Council meeting, along with Sudan itself, Egypt, Turkiye and the UAE.