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UN links Gaza and Sudan
The UN warned that the risk of genocide remains "very high" in Sudan, while also expressing concern about "the horror in Gaza" before the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
“The United Nations General Assembly is holding a plenary session on Monday to discuss nations’ responsibility to prevent genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity”
Virginia Gamba told the council that "Thousands of civilians have been killed and more than 10.5 million people have been displaced" as the conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces enters its third year.
In Gaza, the UN official condemned Israel's sustained military campaign, saying it has "devastated Gaza, killing tens of thousands of civilians and destroying essential infrastructure."
The UN official also called for an immediate ceasefire, the unconditional release of hostages, and the immediate restoration of humanitarian access, framing the Gaza deterioration as occurring alongside a rise in antisemitism and Islamophobia worldwide.
Darfur warnings and Gaza focus
On BBC Newsday, Alice Wairimu Nderitu said, "We have circumstances in which genocide could occur or has occurred," warning that the Sudanese region of Darfur faces a rising risk as global attention focuses on Ukraine and Gaza.
Nderitu said the escalation of hostilities in El Fasher has opened "a truly alarming chapter in this conflict," and she added that her voice was being "stifled by other wars — in Ukraine and in Gaza."
Ibrahim al Tayeb al Faki, a local resident, told the BBC that his sister was killed in a military airstrike that also destroyed his home, and he said, "There is currently no safe place in El Fasher."
The BBC reported that El Fasher is the last major urban center in Darfur still in the hands of the Sudanese army, and it said the internet has been cut as RSF troops continue to besiege the city.
Prevention debate and legal stakes
Al Jazeera reported that the UN General Assembly is holding a plenary session on Monday to discuss nations’ responsibility to prevent genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity, with the meeting taking place at UN headquarters in New York.
The outlet framed the session as occurring amid "Israel’s genocide in Gaza" and the "ongoing genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan," alongside other humanitarian crises that critics say the international community has done "very little to address."
Al Jazeera also set out the UN’s definition of genocide as any act committed "with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group," including "killing members of the group" and "deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction."
In the same coverage, Al Jazeera said the genocide began in response to attacks on southern Israel by fighters from the Qassam Brigades, and it reported that during those attacks "1,139 people died" and "about 240" were taken into Gaza.
