ISLAMABAD: Ambassador Munir Akram, Pakistan’s permanent representative to the United Nations, has called on Sudan’s warring parties to re-engage in negotiations to end a 21-month-long war that has killed tens of thousands, driven millions from their homes and plunged half of the population into hunger.
The war between Sudan’s army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) broke out in April 2023 due to disputes over the integration of the two forces. The war has displaced more than 12 million people, while plunging half the population of 49 million people into hunger, for which both the RSF and army are blamed.
“We call on both sides to implement the commitments made under Jeddah declaration on protection of civilians and the facilitation of humanitarian action to meet the emergency needs of the Sudanese people,” Akram said in a speech to the UN Security Council.
The Pakistani envoy spoke after the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khan, briefed the 15-member council on the deteriorating situation in Sudan’s Darfur region on Monday.
“The blatant violations of international humanitarian law with impunity must stop, and the suffering of the Sudanese people brought to an end,” Akram said. “The Sudanese people have seen unimaginable atrocities during the nearly two years of the recent conflict.”
He extended Pakistan’s condolences to the victims and their families of a RSF drone attack on a Saudi hospital last week in which at least 70 people were killed.
“Pakistan firmly upholds the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Sudan,” Akram added. “We call for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire … The parties need to find a sustainable political resolution through peaceful means. The humanitarian crisis in the country needs to be addressed.”
Akram said although Pakistan was not a party to the Rome Treaty establishing the ICC, it was committed to the objective of accountability for international crimes, whether they were committed in Darfur, Gaza, Afghanistan, or elsewhere.
“The ICC can gain global credibility if it displays full objectivity and impartiality in the cases and persons it decides to investigate and prosecute,” he said. “Some jurisdictions have so far been immune from prosecution for widely reported crimes, including those committed in situations of foreign occupation and intervention.”
