(VOVWORLD) -The growing ethnicization of the conflict threatens to expand and prolong it, with implications for the region if the warring parties don’t respect a ceasefire, UN special envoy to Sudan Volker Perthes told the UN Security Council on Monday.
 A road in Khartoum, Sudan, May 17, 2023. (Photo: AFP/VNA) |
Speaking hours before a one-week ceasefire was to begin between the two battling armed factions, Perthes said there were already signs last month that the fighting was threatening to split the country along ethnic lines. He urged all parties to honor the ceasefire agreement, allow access for humanitarian relief, and protect humanitarian workers and supplies.
After the ceasefire, fighting was still reported in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, on Monday. Residents of the northeastern suburbs of Khartoum reported clashes, and explosions were heard from air raids.