April 15 (UPI) -- An international summit to try to revive peace talks in war-torn Sudan opened in London on Tuesday, two years to the day since fighting erupted in the Northeast African country between forces of the military government and the Rapid Support Forces, a rival military faction.
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said he wanted to use the conference, co-hosted by the African Union, France and Germany and attended by 20 foreign ministers as well as major donors and multilateral bodies from around the world, to step up efforts to protect civilians and work toward ending a conflict responsible for one of the worst ever humanitarian crises.
The United Nations and non-governmental organizations said the situation was worsening for civilians who have been largely left to fend for themselves by an international community distracted by crises elsewhere in the world with deadly attacks on refugee camps, the latest atrocity to befall the population.
Tens of thousands are reported to have been killed since the civil war broke out in April 2023 amid violations of international humanitarian law on a "massive scale," said Daniel O'Malley, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross delegation in Sudan.
Related
"All of the civilian population, irrespective of where they are in the country, have basically been trapped between one, two or more parties. And they have been bearing the brunt," he said.
Lammy said with more than 30 million people in desperate need of aid, at least 12 million people displaced, more than 12 million women and girls at risk of gender-based violence and famine spreading throughout the country, urgent action was needed to figure out how to improve humanitarian access and find a long-term political solution.
"Two years is far too long -- the brutal war in Sudan has devastated the lives of millions -- and yet much of the world continues to look away. We need to act now to stop the crisis from becoming an all-out catastrophe, ensuring aid gets to those who need it the most."
Saying he had witnessed first-hand the warring sides' "appalling disregard for the civilian population," he said the summit would facilitate the international community in establishing a pathway to halt the suffering.
"Many have given up on Sudan -- that is wrong -- it's morally wrong when we see so many civilians beheaded, infants as young as 1 subjected to sexual violence, more people facing famine than anywhere else in the world. We simply cannot look away," Lammy said as he opened the conference.
African Union envoy Bankole Adeoye called for an "immediate, unconditional cessation of hostilities," warning there was no military solution to the conflict. He said following a cease-fire there had to be "all-inclusive" negotiations to achieve a permanent peace -- a dig at the fact neither of the warring parties were invited to London.
"The AU will not allow a Balkanization or partition of Sudan," he said.
The U.N. said Tuesday that than 400 people fleeing the fighting were reported killed at the weekend after RSF troops unleashed ferocious attacks using ground and air forces against refugee camps around the city of El-Fasher in the country's western Darfur region.
El-Fasher is the last remaining regional capital still controlled by the Armed Forces of Sudan, the Sudanese army.
Yale School of Public Health's Humanitarian Research Lab said in a report Monday that it had a "high degree of confidence," that RSF had taken control of Zamzam Refugee Camp where an estimated 500,000 people were sheltering as of Sunday, razing the camp in the process.
It said its analysis of satellite imagery and thermal data showed "widespread thermal scarring to 1.183 square kilometers in the camp, including at the camp market, a kitchen operated by an international aid organization, the Sudanese American Physicians Association, and a compound with temporary structures consistent with Internally Displaced Persons."
There has been no response from the RSF.
Medecins sans Frontieres said in a news release that 20,000 people had fled southwest to Tawila, which was overwhelmed, and that it was treating people with gunshot injuries and that children were dying of disease and thirst en route or shortly after arriving.
The BBC said people fleeing the camp had told of being attacked by armed looters in the camp and on the journey to Tawila.
