Sudan conflict can turn ethnic, warns UN

The United Nations warned on Monday that the Sudan conflict can turn into an ethnically driven conflict if warring parties didn't respect and extend the ceasefire beginning Monday (May 22).

"The growing ethnicization of the conflict risks to expand and prolong it with implications for the region," UN special envoy to Sudan Volker Perthes told the UN Security Council.

Perthes was speaking just hours before a one-week ceasefire was to begin between the two factions. He said that there were already signs that the fighting was threatening to split Sudan along ethnic and communal lines.

Those have only grown recently, he said.

"In parts of the country, fighting between the two armies or the two armed formations has sharpened into communal tensions, or triggered conflict between communities," he said.

"Warning signs of tribal mobilisation are also reported in other parts of the country, particularly in South Kordofan," he said.

He said that after establishing a ceasefire that holds, the UN's number two priority is "preventing the escalation or ethnicisation of the conflict."

Perthes called the ceasefire, agreed on Saturday and set to begin at 9:45 pm (1945 GMT) on Monday, a "welcome development," even though fighting continued through the day on Monday.

"I continue to urge the parties to honour this agreement which they signed two days ago. They must stop the fighting. They must allow access for humanitarian relief, protect humanitarian workers and assets," he said.

The United States and Saudi Arabia on Sunday announced that the ceasefire agreed between the rival camps would take effect at 9:45 pm (1945 GMT) Monday to enable humanitarian assistance to civilians.

Unlike truces previously announced, the US and Saudi said this one is different because it was "signed by the parties" and will be supported by a "ceasefire monitoring mechanism".

Desperate residents voiced hope that the new agreement would stem the brutal warfare that has shaken the capital Khartoum and other parts of the impoverished country, particularly the western Darfur region.

Fighting erupted on April 15 between the army, led by Sudan's de facto leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces commanded by Burhan's former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

(With inputs from agencies)

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