Sudan conflict could become 'full-scale civil war,' U.N. envoy warns as he resigns

Sept. 14 (UPI) -- The five-month-old bloody conflict in Sudan shows no sign of abating and could be "morphing into a full-scale civil war," the United Nations envoy to the northeast African country said during a speech to the Security Council in which he announced his resignation.

Volker Perthes has served as the U.N. Secretary-General's Special Representative for Sudan since early 2021, but was labeled persona non grata by Sudan's foreign ministry in June, seemingly on accusations of stoking the conflict, which erupted mid-April between the Sudanese Armed Forces and its breakaway Rapid Support Forces.

Days before being barred from the country, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was "shocked" by a letter he had received from Sudan's military leader Gen. Abdul Fattah al-Burhan that reportedly called for Perthes to be removed.

In his speech before the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday, Perthes offered no reason for stepping down but said it had been "a privilege" to serve as Guterres' representative.

During a press conference later Wednesday, Guterres said he had accepted Perthes' resignation.

"He has very strong reasons to resign and I have to respect his will and accept his resignation," the U.N. chief said.

Guterres has previously voiced support for Perthes, and said in response to al-Burhan's letter sent in May that he is "proud of the work done" by the German official and "reaffirms his full confidence in his special representative."

For years, Sudan had teetered on the precipice of war following the ousting of the country's former three-decade dictator government of President Omar al-Bashir in a civilian-backed coup in 2019.

Amid its crawl toward civil rule, al-Burhan and his deputy, RSF head Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, executed another coup but infighting over control of the government turned into bloodshed on April 15.

During his speech to the council Wednesday, Perthes said with neither side appearing close to a military victory, there are no signs of the conflict coming to an end, with fierce fighting continuing in the capital of Khartoum where on Sunday a SAF airstrike killed at least 43 people.

At least 5,000 people have been killed in the fighting and more than 12,000 injured, but Perthes said Wednesday that the actual numbers are likely much higher.

With fighting continuing in the capital, violence worsening in Darfur, civilians being targeted due to their ethnicity, tensions deepening in the relatively calm east of the country and former regime elements calling for the continuation of the war, Perthes said these developments add to "the risk of a fragmentation of the country."

"What started as a conflict between two military formations could be morphing into a full-scale civil war," he said.

"Each side is still waiting for the other side to be weakened into surrender. This is futile," he said. "The war is destroying the lives of the Sudanese men and women, violating their basic rights and depriving them of the future they deserve."

He continued that the conflict is leaving a "tragic legacy" of human rights abuses committed by both sides, including indiscriminate killings by the SAF and widespread acts of sexual violence, lootings and killings in areas controlled by the RSF, while both are arbitrarily arresting, detaining and torturing civilians.

"We need to impress on the warring parties that they cannot operate with impunity, and there will be accountability for the crimes committed," he said.

Edem Wosornu, director for operations and advocacy of the United Nations office for the coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told the council that the number of displaced in Sudan now stands at more than 5 million, equalling 1 million people newly displaced every month.

Of those, 1 million have fled across borders into neighboring countries.

The fighting, she said, has also put civilians at risk due to an "almost complete breakdown" of the healthcare system, which is "making it almost impossible to control increasing outbreaks of diseases."