U.N. head warns Sudan on 'brink of full-scale civil war'

July 9 (UPI) -- U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is warning that the nearly three-month-old bloody conflict in Sudan is devolving into a full-scale civil war after nearly two dozen people were killed over the weekend in an airstrike.

Guterres made his warning late Saturday in a statement issued by U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq, who said the secretary general reiterated calls for the warring Sudanese Armed Forces and its breakaway Rapid Support Forces to "cease fighting and commit to a durable cessation of hostilities."

The Northeast African nation has for years teetered on the precipice of war and stability since the military ousted the country's former nearly three-decade dictator government of President Omar al-Bashir in a civilian-backed coup in 2019.

As the country crawled toward democracy, Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, head of the SAF, and his deputy, RSF head Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, executed another coup in 2021 but infighting over control of the government turned into bloodshed on April 15, with civilians paying a heavy price.

"The Secretary-General remains deeply concerned that the ongoing war between the armed forces has pushed Sudan to the brink of a full-scale civil war, potentially destabilizing the entire region," Haq said.

Guterres' statement was issued in condemnation of an airstrike on the city of Omdurman, located just north of the capital Khartoum, that killed at least 22 civilians.

"He offers his condolences to the families of the victims and hopes for a speedy recovery to the dozens of people who were injured," Haq said.

The RSF issued a statement Saturday condemning the attack "in the strongest terms," while putting the death toll at 31.

It blamed the strike on the "coup forces" and called on domestic and international monitors to document the killings.

The SAF rejected accusations it was behind the strikes as "media disinformation and continuous lies adopted by the rebel militia to cover its violations and crimes on civilians.

"The armed forces would like to clarify that it did not carry out an airstrike on Saturday on any enemy targets in Omdurman," it said Sunday in a statement.

According to the U.N.'s International Organization for Migration, since the fighting began, nearly 3 million people have been displaced. It states 2.2 million have been displaced within the country and another 700,000 have been forced by the fighting to cross borders into neighboring nations.