Washington Proposes No-Fly and Arms Bans as Khartoum Warns of Consequences

Diplomatic sources told Asharq Bloomberg that U.S. President’s Senior Adviser for Arab and African Affairs, Massad Boulos, has requested a UN Security Council session on Sudan for next Monday.

According to the sources, Boulos will present a proposal during the session to impose a no-fly zone over areas controlled by both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia, in addition to a proposal to ban arms supplies to both the army and the RSF.

In response, Adviser to Sudan’s President of the Transitional Sovereignty Council (TSC), Amjad Farid, said the difference between the army’s weapons and those of the RSF “is the difference between life and death,” arguing that this is “not a rhetorical comparison, but a reality documented by 18 months of the siege of El-Fasher.”

Farid said the government army’s weapons “protected people from the genocide” committed by the RSF militia after it took control of El Fasher. He added that, according to his account, the same pattern was repeated in other parts of Sudan, where residents fled areas where the RSF was deployed to areas controlled by government forces.

He noted that the International Organization for Migration (IOM) had documented, in recent weeks, the return of approximately five million Sudanese to areas that the government says have been “liberated” and are considered safe. He argued that the presence of the Sudanese Armed Forces is the primary factor providing protection to civilians.

Farid warned that weakening the army’s capabilities would strengthen the RSF’s ability to commit further violations and atrocities.

The developments come as international efforts to secure an end to the war in Sudan continue.
BH/BH