ADDIS ABABA: The African Union on Wednesday said the announcement of a parallel government in war-torn Sudan risked cleaving the country, already ravaged by nearly two years of unrest.
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been locked in a brutal conflict with Sudan’s army (SAF) since April 2023 in a war that has claimed tens of thousands of lives and uprooted more than 12 million people.
The war, which was initially sparked by disagreements over the integration of the RSF into the army, has torn the country apart, with the military now controlling eastern and northern Sudan and the RSF dominating almost all of western Darfur and parts of the south.
Both the army and the RSF have been accused of war crimes.
The RSF and its allies signed a “founding charter” of a parallel government in Nairobi last month.
On Wednesday the AU condemned the move and “warned that such action carries a huge risk of partitioning of the country.”
The signatories to the document, seen by AFP, intend to create a “government of peace and unity” in rebel-controlled areas.
They have also pledged to “build a secular, democratic, decentralized state, based on freedom, equality and justice, without cultural, ethnic, religious or regional bias.”
In early March, the RSF and its allies signed, again in Nairobi, a “Transitional Constitution.”
The AU called on all of its member states, as well as the international community, “not to recognize any government or parallel entity aimed at partitioning and governing part of the territory of the Republic of Sudan or its institutions.”
In a statement, it said the organization “does not recognize the so-called government or parallel entity in the Republic of Sudan.”
On Tuesday, the European Union also reiterated its commitment to the “unity and territorial integrity of Sudan.”
“Plans for parallel ‘government’ by the Rapid Support Forces risk the partition of the country and jeopardize the democratic aspirations of the Sudanese people for an inclusive Sudanese-owned process that leads to the restoration of civilian rule,” it said in a statement.
It follows a warning from the UN Security Council last week that expressed “grave concerns” over the signing, adding it could worsen an already dire humanitarian situation.”
The conflict has up-ended the nation, with the UN describing the situation as an “unprecedented humanitarian crisis on the African continent.”
Parts of the country have already descended into famine, with another eight million people on the brink of mass starvation.
Nationwide, nearly 25 million people are suffering dire food insecurity.
African Union warns of huge risk of partition in Sudan
https://arab.news/2awep
African Union warns of huge risk of partition in Sudan
- The RSF and its allies signed a “founding charter” of a parallel government in Nairobi last month
- On Wednesday the AU condemned the move and “warned that such action carries a huge risk of partitioning of the country“
US condemns Houthi detention of embassy staff in Yemen. Guterres seeks release of all detained UN staff
- US State Department says the sham proceedings only prove that the Houthis rely on the use of terror against their own people to stay in power
- UN Secretary General says the continued Houthi detention and prosecution of UN personnel is a violation of international law
WASHINGTON/UNITED NATIONS: The US on Wednesday condemned the ongoing detention of current and former local staffers of the US embassy in Yemen by the Houthi movement.
“The United States condemns the Houthis’ ongoing unlawful detention of current and former local staff of the US Mission to Yemen,” US State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said in a statement.
“The Houthis’ arrests of those staff, and the sham proceedings that have been brought against them, are further evidence that the Houthis rely on the use of terror against their own people as a way to stay in power,” Pigott said.
Earlier, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on Houthi rebels not to prosecute detained UN personnel and to work “in good faith” to immediately release all detained staff from the UN and foreign agencies and missions.
Guterres condemned the referrals of the UN personnel to the Houthis’ special criminal court and called the detentions of UN staff a violation of international law, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
There are currently 59 UN personnel, all Yemeni nationals, detained by the Iranian-backed Houthis, in addition to dozens from nongovernmental organizations, civil society and diplomatic missions, he said.
He said a number of them have been referred to the criminal court in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa. “There were procedures going on in the court, I believe, today and all of this is very, very worrying to us,” Dujarric said.
The court in late November convicted 17 people of spying for foreign governments, part of a yearslong Houthi crackdown on Yemeni staffers working for foreign organizations.
The court said the 17 people were part of “espionage cells within a spy network affiliated with the American, Israeli and Saudi intelligence,” according to the Houthi-run SABA news agency. They were sentenced to death by firing squad in public, but a lawyer for some of them said the sentence can be appealed.
UN human rights chief Volker Türk said in a statement Tuesday that one of those referred to the court was from his office. He said the colleague, who has been detained since November 2021, was presented to the “so-called” court “on fabricated charges of espionage connected to his work.”
“This is totally unacceptable and a grave human rights violence,” Türk said.
He said detainees have been held in “intolerable conditions” and his office has received “very concerning reports of mistreatment of numerous staff.” Dujarric said some have been held incommunicado for years.
Dujarric said the UN is in constant contact with the Houthis, and the secretary-general and others have also raised the issue of the detainees with Iran, Saudi Arabia, Oman and others.
The Houthis seized Sanaa in 2014 and since then they have been engaged in a civil war with Yemen’s internationally recognized government, which is supported by a Saudi-led military coalition.
The November verdict was the latest in the Houthi crackdown in areas of Yemen under their control. They have imprisoned thousands of people during the civil war.
