WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. has had direct conversations with countries accused of fueling the conflict in Sudan and has encouraged regional states to press Iran not to engage in the war, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said on Thursday. Reuters reported on Wednesday that Iranian-made armed drones had helped the army turn the tide of the conflict, halting the progress of the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Force (RSF) and regaining territory around the capital, according to a senior army source. Six Iranian sources, regional officials and diplomats - who, like the army source, asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the information - also told Reuters the military had acquired Iranian-made unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) over the past few months.
The U.S. will make a push of more than a hundred million in additional funding to respond to the conflict in Sudan as Washington seeks to spur international response at a donor conference on the humanitarian crisis this month, the U.S. Special Envoy to the North African country said on Wednesday. Special Envoy Tom Perriello told Reuters he hopes that partners around the world will put greater priority on the Sudanese civil war and that more countries will step up at a donor conference in Paris on April 15. The date marks a year since the conflict erupted after long-simmering tensions erupted into heavy fighting between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The U.N. human rights office said in a new report Friday that scores of people, including children, have been subjected to rape and other forms of sexual violence in the ongoinng conflict in Sudan, assaults that may amount to war crimes. Sudan plunged into chaos in mid-April when clashes erupted in the capital, Khartoum, between rival Sudanese forces — the country’s military, led by Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, and a paramilitary faction known as the Rapid Support Forces, under the command of Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo. The report found that at least 118 people had been subjected to sexual violence, including rape — with many of the assaults committed by members of the paramilitary forces, in homes and on the streets.
Sudan’s warring generals agreed to hold a face-to-face meeting as part of efforts to establish a cease-fire and initiate political talks to end the country’s devastating war, an African regional bloc said Sunday. Meanwhile, Sudan's government ordered the expulsion of 15 diplomats from the United Arab Emirates over Abu Dhabi's alleged support of rebel forces. Sudan slipped into chaos after soaring tensions between military chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan and Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, commander