GENEVA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th April, 2023) UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Tuerk on Monday urged both sides to the conflict in Sudan to immediately stop hostilities and get back to the negotiating table.
"UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk today called for an immediate cessation to hostilities in Sudan and pleaded with the Sudan Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces to return to the negotiating table," the statement on the commission's web site reads.
According to the United Nations, at least 185 people have been killed and 1,800 injured in Sudan in the four days since the fighting began.
"Thousands upon thousands of civilians are trapped in their homes, shielding from the fighting, with no electricity, unable to venture out and worried about running out of food, drinking water and medicine," Tuerk said as quoted in the statement.
He also called for the speediest investigation into killings of civilians, including three members of staff of the UN's World Food Programme. Those responsible must be brought to justice, the official added.
Clashes between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) broke out on Saturday, with the epicenter in the country's capital, Khartoum. Government forces accused the RSF of mutiny and launched airstrikes against their bases. The RSF claimed control of the presidential palace in the Sudanese capital and the airports in Khartoum and Merowe. The national army denied the presidential palace had been taken over.
