Sudan conflict could turn into full-scale civil war: UN envoy

United Nations: The UN special envoy for Sudan who was declared unwelcome by the country’s military rulers resigned Wednesday in a final speech to the UN Security Council, warning that the conflict between Sudan’s rival military leaders “could be morphing into a full-scale civil war.”

Volker Perthes, who had continued to work outside Sudan, said the fighting shows no sign of abating, with neither side appearing close to “a decisive military victory.” He also said the violence in Sudan’s western Darfur region “has worsened dramatically,” with civilians being targeted based on their ethnicity.

Tensions between Sudan’s military, led by Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, commanded by Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, burst into open fighting in mid-April. At least 5,000 people have been killed since then and over 12,000 wounded, Perthes said, while calling the figures conservative and saying the actual number “is likely much higher.”

The envoy said there were at least 13 mass graves in and around Geneina, the capital of West Darfur’s province, according to credible reports the U.N. Joint Human Rights Office received. The graves were a result of attacks by the RSF and their allied Arab militias on civilians, mostly African communities, Perthes said.

The western Darfur region was the scene of a genocidal campaign in the early 2000s.

More than 20 million people almost half Sudan’s population are experiencing acute hunger and food insecurity, the U.N. humanitarian office’s operations director, Edem Wosornu, told

the council.