Russia vetoes Sudan ceasefire resolution at UN

UNITED NATIONS, United States — Russia vetoed a UN Security Council resolution on Monday calling for an immediate end to hostilities in Sudan where a war between two rival generals has been raging since April 2023.

A draft of the resolution prepared by Britain and Sierra Leone, which was seen by AFP, had called on both sides to "immediately cease hostilities" and begin talks on "a national ceasefire."

Chairing a meeting of the council at UN headquarters, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy called the Russian decision a "disgrace" and angrily denounced Moscow's deputy UN ambassador who ignored the remarks while looking at his phone. 

"One country stood in the way of the council speaking with one voice. One country is the blocker," Lammy added in a speech that saw him repeatedly say "shame on Putin" referring to the Russian president. 

The UN Security Council has been largely paralyzed in its ability to deal with conflicts from Ukraine to Gaza because of splits between permanent members, notably Russia and the United States.

A decision by US President Joe Biden to allow Ukraine to use long-range American-made missiles to strike inside Russia, reported for the first time on Sunday, has further ratcheted up tensions between the two sides.

American ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield denounced Russia for standing in the way of "actions to save lives in the world's worst humanitarian crisis."

But Russia's deputy UN ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy said the resolution had a "post-colonial flavoring" and accused Britain of expending "a lot of effort to delete from the text any mention of the legitimate authorities of Sudan."

Sudan has been ravaged by fighting between the regular army of General Abdel Fattah Al Burhan, who seized power in a 2021 coup, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) led by his one-time deputy, General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo. 

Before Monday's vote, a diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity that Russia had appeared to become "visibly more aligned" with General Burhan's camp during negotiations over the draft.

During previous votes on Sudan in the Security Council, Moscow had abstained.

 Civilian toll 

The draft had called on member states to avoid any "external interference which foments conflict and instability" and urged all sides to respect an embargo against arms transfers to Darfur.

The conflict has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than 11 million people, including 3.1 million who have fled the country, according to UN figures.

Recent weeks have seen violence flare up again, with each camp seemingly "convinced they can prevail on the battlefield," Rosemary DiCarlo, UN under-secretary-general for political affairs, said recently.

The fighting has taken a high toll among civilians, with some 26 million people facing severe food shortages and both sides exchanging accusations of sexual violence.

Against that backdrop, the draft resolution called on both parties to "fully implement" commitments made in 2023 to protect civilians, to "halt and prevent conflict-related sexual violence," and to allow "rapid, safe, unhindered" humanitarian access into and throughout Sudan.

Even if it had been adopted, it was unclear what effect the Sudan resolution would have produced.