7 February 2023
Your Excellencies, the Chair and members of the AU Peace and Security Council
The African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) writes ahead of your first session on the Sudan situation in 2024 to urge you to reiterate your calls to the warring parties of the Sudan armed conflict to cease hostilities, protect civilians, and allow safe access for displaced people inside Sudan to humanitarian Services.
Since the war erupted on 15 April 2023, the humanitarian crisis and human rights violations in Sudan have reached an unprecedented scale. The indiscriminate targeting of civilians and infrastructure by the warring parties is alarming. As the conflict enters its tenth month, the death toll continues to rise, with the remains of many victims yet to be located, collected, identified, or buried. While estimates suggest that over 13,000 lives have been lost since April 2023, the true extent of the tragedy is likely much higher due to the intensity of the fighting and the challenges in documenting and confirming casualties. In Darfur, following the capture of many states by the Rapid Support Forces towards the end of 2023, the violence has taken on an ethnic turn, leading to a new round of ethnic cleansing and demanding urgent action. In November 2023 alone, at least, 1,300 people were killed in ethnically-motivated attacks in West Darfur.