Sudan rejects UN experts’ call for ‘impartial’ force to protect civilians

Sudan has rejected a call by UN experts for the deployment of an “independent and impartial force” to protect millions of civilians driven from their homes by more than a year of war.

The conflict since April last year, pitting the army against paramilitary forces, has killed tens of thousands of people and triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

The independent UN experts said on Friday that their fact-finding mission had uncovered “harrowing” violations by both sides, “which may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity”.

They called for “an independent and impartial force with a mandate to safeguard civilians” to be deployed “without delay”.

The Sudanese foreign ministry, which is loyal to the army under General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, said in a statement late on Saturday that “the Sudanese government rejects in their entirety the recommendations of the UN mission”.