NEW YORK: The UN Security Council on Thursday expressed grave concern over the signing of a charter to establish a parallel governing authority in Sudan, warning that the move risks exacerbating the fragmentation of the war-torn country and worsening its already dire humanitarian situation.
Council members said that any such unilateral action will undermine Sudan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and therefore threatens the stability of the country and the wider region.
Sudanese political groups and armed movements aligned with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces on Tuesday signed what they billed “a transitional charter” in Nairobi, endorsing “a secular state for Sudan” and paving the way for a parallel government in RSF-controlled areas.
The Sudanese government has rejected the move, saying it encourages the division of African countries and violates their sovereignty.
Members of the Security Council called on both parties involved in the conflict to seek an immediate halt to hostilities and to engage, “in good faith,” in diplomatic efforts toward a durable ceasefire.
They also welcomed calls by the African Union and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to urgently declare a ceasefire during Ramadan.
The 15-member body, tasked with maintaining international peace and security, also called for all parties to comply with their commitments outlined in the Jeddah Declaration.
They emphasized “the importance of a genuine, inclusive, and transparent national dialogue leading to a free, fair and democratically elected national government, following a civilian-led transitional period, to realize the aspirations of the Sudanese people for a peaceful, stable and prosperous future, in full accordance with the principles of national ownership.”
Council members further urged all countries to halt any external interference “which seeks to foment conflict and instability, to support efforts for durable peace, to abide by their obligations under international law, and to implement relevant Security Council resolutions, including resolution 2750,” which was adopted last year to renew the arms embargo on Sudan.
The Security Council also called on warring parties to adhere to international humanitarian law and resolution 2736.
Resolution 2736, adopted in June 2024, demanded the RSF halt a siege and de-escalate fighting in North Darfur’s capital Al-Fashir.
Since the beginning of the conflict in early 2023, humanitarian officials have decried the weaponization of hunger in Sudan and lamented the lack of access to the millions in need, which has caused famine to return to some parts of the country, including Zamzam camp.
UN Security Council warns any parallel government in Sudan risks worsening war, fragmentation
https://arab.news/98jhu
UN Security Council warns any parallel government in Sudan risks worsening war, fragmentation
- Unilateral action threatens Sudan’s sovereignty, regional stability, says Security Council
- Alarm grows over signing of ‘transitional charter’ in Nairobi, endorsing ‘secular state for Sudan’
Israel’s ‘deliberate intention of preventing births among Palestinians’ meets ‘legal criteria of Genocide Convention’: Reports
- Births in Gaza fell by 41% during conflict as maternal deaths, miscarriages surged
- ‘The destruction of maternal care in Gaza reflects the deliberate infliction of conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of the Palestinian people, in whole or in part’
LONDON: Births in Gaza fell by 41 percent due to Israel’s war on the territory, with the conflict resulting in catastrophic numbers of maternal deaths, miscarriages and birth complications, two reports have found.
The data on pregnant women, babies and maternity care in the war-torn Palestinian enclave also revealed a surge in newborn mortality and premature births, The Guardian reported on Wednesday.
Dangerous wartime conditions and Israel’s systematic destruction of Gaza’s health systems were blamed for the alarming statistics.
The two reports were conducted by Physicians for Human Rights, in collaboration with the University of Chicago Law School’s Global Human Rights Clinic and Physicians for Human Rights — Israel.
Researchers highlighted Israel’s “deliberate intention of preventing births among Palestinians, meeting the legal criteria of the Genocide Convention.”
The reports build on earlier findings by PHR’s Israel branch. They place the testimonies of pregnant women and new mothers within the context of health data and field reports, which recorded “2,600 miscarriages, 220 pregnancy-related deaths, 1,460 premature births, over 1,700 underweight newborns, and over 2,500 infants requiring neonatal intensive care” between January and June 2025.
PHRI’s Lama Bakri, a psychologist and project manager, said: “These figures represent a shocking deterioration from pre-war ‘normalcy,’ and are the direct result of war trauma, starvation, displacement and the collapse of maternal healthcare.
“These conditions endanger both mothers and their unborn babies, newborns, and breastfed infants, and will have consequences for generations, permanently altering families.”
She added: “Beyond the numbers, what emerges in this report are the women themselves, their voices, choices and lived realities, confronting impossible dilemmas that statistics alone cannot fully capture.”
Maternal and newborn care in Gaza has been damaged by Israel’s destruction of health infrastructure, as well as fuel shortages, blocked medical supplies, mass displacement and relentless bombardment.
As a result, survival in Gaza’s overcrowded tent encampments has become the sole option for pregnant women and new mothers.
During the first six months of Israel’s war on the territory, more than 6,000 mothers were killed, at an average of two every hour, according to UN Women estimates.
It is also believed that about 150,000 pregnant women and new mothers have been forcibly displaced by the conflict.
In the first months of last year, just 17,000 births were recorded in Gaza, a 41 percent fall compared to the same period in 2022.
The researchers examined Israel’s apparent strategy to undermine Palestinian births, highlighting a targeted strike in December 2023 on the Al-Basma IVF clinic.
The attack on Gaza’s largest fertility center destroyed about 5,000 reproductive specimens and ended a pattern of 70-100 IVF procedures each month.
The strike was deliberately designed to target the reproductive potential of Palestinians, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry later found.
“Reproductive violence constitutes a violation under international law; when carried out systematically and with them intent to destroy, it falls within the definition of genocide of the Genocide Convention,” the reports said.
“The destruction of maternal care in Gaza reflects the deliberate infliction of conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of the Palestinian people, in whole or in part.”
