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UN peacekeeping operations take place in volatile environments: South Sudan Force Commander Mohan Subramanian

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The nature of conflict has changed the UN peacekeeping operations which is today taking place in very volatile environments where the stakes for peace are very high, a top Indian United Nations (UN) official has said.

Force Commander of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) Lieutenant General Mohan Subramanian said a whole of the UN and its stakeholders’ approach is needed to ensure the safety and security of peacekeepers.

Explained | What is the U.N. Peacekeeping mission?

“The nature of conflict itself has changed and therefore the nature of peacekeeping operations has changed. Definitely, the environment is more fragile, more dangerous from the point of view of the safety and security of peacekeepers.”

“Peacekeeping today, in the United Nations parlance, is taking place in a more volatile environment, where the stakes for peace are very very high,” Lt. Gen. Subramanian told PTI in an interview from Juba.

In July last year, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appointed Mr. Subramanian as his new Force Commander of UNMISS, the world’s largest peacekeeping mission. Previously, Subramanian served as the General Officer Commanding, Military Region (Operational and Logistic Readiness Zone) in central India, contributing to the Army’s operational and logistic preparedness.

He noted that since the nature of peace operations has changed, there is a need for peacekeepers to be equipped accordingly.

The UN is marking 75 years of peacekeeping this year and observed the ‘International Day of UN Peacekeepers’ last week with the theme of ‘Peace begins with me’.

Mr. Guterres has said that every year, ‘International Peacekeepers Day’ provides an opportunity to honour the women and men who are pursuing peace on the front lines in some of the world’s most dangerous places.

“But this year is special, as we commemorate 75 years of United Nations Peacekeeping. What began as a bold experiment with the deployment of a small number of military observers to the Middle East in 1948 is now a flagship enterprise of our Organisation,” the UN chief had said in his message.

Mr. Guterres noted with concern that conflicts today are becoming more complex, peace processes are stagnating and terrorism, armed groups, gang violence and transnational crime are poisoning communities, countries and entire regions. “Sadly, our peacekeepers are increasingly working in places where there is no peace to keep.

“We must seriously reflect on the need for a new generation of peace-enforcement missions and counter-terrorism operations, led by our partners with a United Nations Security Council mandate under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, with guaranteed funding, namely through assessed contributions,” the UN chief said.

More than two million peacekeepers from 125 countries have served in 71 operations around the world in the last 75 years. Today, 87,000 women and men are serving in 12 conflict zones across Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.

Mr. Subramanian said that in the last few years, the safety and security of peacekeepers have become a major concern, which is kept at the core of planning of all operations as well as planning of the equipment profile that is provided to contingents at the missions.

“In terms of ensuring the safety and security of peacekeepers, we need a whole of UN and a whole of stakeholders’ approach in which the host countries do play an important part,” the UNMISS Force Commander said.

He voiced appreciation for the ‘Group of Friends’ to promote accountability for crimes against peacekeepers, a key initiative launched by India during its December 2022 Presidency of the Security Council. “India has taken up the issue of safety and security of peacekeepers in a big way,” he said.

Mr. Subramanian noted that in the last decade alone, hundreds of peacekeepers have lost their lives due to “crimes against them”, including improvised explosive device attacks, attacks on convoys and bases and hostile activities by various parties against them.

“This definitely calls for accountability of the perpetrators of such crimes,” he said, adding that these crimes are unacceptable.

“UN member states, host countries are pitching in to ensure that perpetrators are held accountable, and safety and security of peacekeepers are ensured to the best extent that we can ensure,” he said.

The Force Commander, who has a distinguished military career with the Indian Army spanning over 36 years, stressed that it is particularly important in peacekeeping to have gender parity, both quantitatively as well as qualitatively. He noted that the victims of conflicts across the world are largely women and children.

“There’s a disproportionately large number of women who are affected by conflict, and women help us engage them better,” he said.

He said women peacekeepers and personnel have greater access to victims of conflict in terms of “being able to approach, earn trust and engage them meaningfully in order to alleviate their sufferings as well as to get early warnings from them, which is very critical to our operations.”

On the milestone of 75 years of UN peacekeeping, Mr. Subramanian said peacekeeping has been the foremost instrument of maintaining international peace and stability, as is borne out by the record of the 71 missions.

“More importantly, there doesn’t seem to be a better alternative in sight,” he said. He called on all member states and stakeholders to stay committed to peacekeeping.

Mr. Subramanian served as India’s Defence Attache to Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia (2008-2012) and as a Staff Officer with the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone in 2000.

He highlighted India’s pioneering contribution to UN peacekeeping in the last seven decades, saying the country “has been amongst the foremost contributors of troops and police personnel to peacekeeping efforts all over the world.”

“India has also conceptually and in a more formative way, contributed to peacekeeping evolve itself in terms of procedures, the composition of contingents. In all these aspects, India has been at the forefront in helping to shape up of peacekeeping operations,” he said.

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Sudan rivals pledge evacuation help, U.S. diplomats airlifted

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American embassy staffers were airlifted from Sudan early on April 23, as forces loyal to rival generals battled for control of Africa’s third-largest nation for a ninth day amid fading hopes for deescalation.

The warring sides said they were helping coordinate the evacuation of foreigners, though continued exchanges of fire in Sudan’s capital undermined those claims.

Also read | Saudi Arabia evacutes Indians along with other foreigners in Sudan

A senior Biden administration official said U.S. troops are carrying out the precarious evacuation of U.S. Embassy staffers. The troops who airlifted the staff out of Khartoum have safely left Sudanese airspace, a second U.S. official confirmed.

The Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group, which has been battling the Sudanese army, said the U.S. rescue mission involved six aircraft and that it had coordinated evacuation efforts with the U.S.

The RSF, led by Gen. Mohammed Hamad Dagolo, said it is cooperating with all diplomatic missions and that it is committed to a three-day cease-fire that was declared at sundown Friday.

Earlier, army chief Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan said he would facilitate the evacuation of American, British, Chinese and French citizens and diplomats from Sudan after speaking with the leaders of several countries that had requested help.

However, the situation on the ground remains volatile. Most major airports have become battlegrounds and movement out of the capital has proven intensely dangerous. The two rivals have dug in, signaling they would resume the fighting after the declared three-day truce.

Questions have swirled over how the mass rescues of foreign citizens would unfold, with Sudan’s main international airport closed and millions of people sheltering indoors. As battles between the Sudanese army and the powerful paramilitary group rage in and around Khartoum, including in residential areas, foreign countries have struggled to repatriate their citizens — many trapped in their homes as food supplies dwindle.

The White House would not confirm the Sudanese military’s announcement. “We have made very clear to both sides that they are responsible for ensuring the protection of civilians and noncombatants,” the National Security Council said. On Friday, the U.S. said it had no plans for a government-coordinated evacuation of the estimated 16,000 American citizens trapped in Sudan.

Saudi Arabia announced the successful repatriation of some of its citizens on Saturday, sharing footage of Saudi nationals and other foreigners welcomed with chocolate and flowers as they stepped off an apparent evacuation ship at the Saudi port of Jeddah.

Officials did not elaborate on exactly how the rescue unfolded but Burhan said the Saudi diplomats and nationals had first traveled by land to Port Sudan, the country’s main seaport on the Red Sea. He said that Jordan’s diplomats would soon be evacuated in the same way. The port is in Sudan’s far east, some 840 kilometers (520 miles) from Khartoum.

President Joe Biden ordered American troops to evacuate embassy personnel after receiving a recommendation earlier Saturday from his national security team with no end in sight to the fighting, according to the official who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the mission.

The evacuation order was believed to apply to about 70 Americans. U.S. forces were flying them from a landing zone at the embassy to an unspecified location.

With the U.S. focused on evacuating diplomats first, the Pentagon said it was moving additional troops and equipment to a Naval base in the tiny Gulf of Aden nation of Djibouti to prepare for the effort.

Burhan told Saudi-owned Al Arabiya satellite channel on Saturday that flights in and out of Khartoum remained risky because of the ongoing clashes. He claimed that the military had regained control over all the other airports in the country, except for one in the southwestern city of Nyala.

“We share the international community’s concern about foreign nationals,” he said, promising Sudan would provide “necessary airports and safe passageways” for foreigners trapped in the fighting, without elaborating.

Two cease-fire attempts earlier this week also rapidly collapsed. The turmoil has dealt a perhaps fatal blow to hopes for the country’s transition to a civilian-led democracy and raised concerns the chaos could draw in its neighbors, including Chad, Egypt and Libya.

“The war has been continuous since day one. It has not stopped for one moment,” said Atiya Abdalla Atiya, secretary of the Sudanese Doctors’ Syndicate, which monitors casualties. The clashes have killed over 400 people so far, according to the World Health Organization. The bombardments, gunbattles and sniper fire in densely populated areas have hit civilian infrastructure, including many hospitals.

The international airport near the center of the capital has come under heavy shelling as the RSF has tried to take control of the compound. In an apparent effort to oust the RSF fighters, the Sudanese army has pounded the airport with airstrikes, gutting at least one runway and leaving wrecked planes scattered on the tarmac. The full extent of damage at the airfield remains unclear.

The conflict has opened a dangerous new chapter in Sudan’s history, thrusting the country into uncertainty.

“No one can predict when and how this war will end,” Burhan told the Al-Hadath news channel. “I am currently in the command center and will only leave it in a coffin.”

The current explosion of violence came after Burhan and Dagalo fell out over a recent internationally brokered deal with democracy activists that was meant to incorporate the RSF into the military and eventually lead to civilian rule.

The rival generals rose to power in the tumultuous aftermath of popular uprisings that led to the ouster of Sudan’s longtime ruler, Omar al-Bashir, in 2019. Two years later, they joined forces to seize power in a coup that ousted the civilian leaders.

Both the military and RSF have a long history of human rights abuses. The RSF was born out of the Janjaweed militias, which were accused of atrocities in crushing a rebellion in Sudan’s western Darfur region in the early 2000s.

Many Sudanese fear that despite the generals’ repeated promises, the violence will only escalate as tens of thousands of foreign citizens try to leave.

“We are sure both sides of fighting are more careful about foreign lives than the lives of Sudanese citizens,” Atiya said.

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Sudan’s Generals battle for third day; death toll soars to 185

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As explosions and gunfire thundered outside, Sudanese in the capital Khartoum and other cities huddled in their homes for a third day on April 17, while the Army and a powerful rival force battled in the streets for control of the country.

At least 185 people have been killed and over 1,800 wounded since the fighting erupted, U.N. envoy Volker Perthes told reporters. The two sides are using tanks, artillery and other heavy weapons in densely populated areas. Fighter jets swooped overhead and anti-aircraft fire lit up the skies as darkness fell.

Editorial | Sudan’s tragedy: on the power struggle between two generals 

The toll could be much higher because there are many bodies in the streets around central Khartoum that no one can reach because of the clashes. There has been no official word on how many civilians or combatants have been killed. The doctors’ syndicate earlier put the number of civilian deaths at 97.

The sudden outbreak of violence over the weekend between the nation’s two top generals, each backed by tens of thousands of heavily armed fighters, trapped millions of people in their homes or wherever they could find shelter, with supplies running low and several hospitals forced to shut down.

Top diplomats on four continents scrambled to broker a truce, and the U.N. Security Council was set to discuss the crisis.

“Gunfire and shelling are everywhere,” Awadeya Mahmoud Koko, head of a union for thousands of tea vendors and other food workers, said from her home in a southern district of Khartoum.

She said a shell stuck a neighbor’s house Sunday, killing at least three people. “We couldn’t take them to a hospital or bury them.”

In central Khartoum, sustained gunfire erupted and white smoke rose near the main military headquarters, a major battle front. Nearby, at least 88 students and staffers have been trapped in the engineering college library at Khartoum University since the start of fighting, one of the students said in a video posted online Monday. One student was killed during clashes outside and another wounded, he said. They do not have food or water, he said, showing a room full of people sleeping on the floor.

Even in a country with a long history of military coups, the scenes of fighting in the capital and its adjoining city Omdurman across the Nile River were unprecedented. The turmoil comes just days before Sudanese were to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, the holiday marking the end of Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting.

The power struggle pits Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, the commander of the armed forces, against Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, the head of the Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary group. The former allies jointly orchestrated an October 2021 military coup. The violence has raised the specter of civil war just as Sudanese were trying to revive the drive for a democratic, civilian government after decades of military rule.

Under international pressure, Burhan and Dagalo had recently agreed to a framework agreement with political parties and pro-democracy groups, but the signing was repeatedly delayed as tensions rose over the integration of the RSF into the armed forces and the future chain of command.

The U.S., the U.N. and others have called for a truce. Egypt, which backs Sudan’s military, and Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — which forged close ties to the RSF in recent years as it sent thousands of fighters to support their war in Yemen — have also called for both sides to stand down.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi said late Monday that Cairo was in “constant contact” with both the army and the RSF, urging them to halt the fighting and return to negotiations.

But both generals have thus far dug in, demanding the other’s surrender.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell tweeted that the EU ambassador to Sudan “was assaulted in his own residency,” without providing further details. EU officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Dagalo, whose forces grew out of the notorious Janjaweed militias in Sudan’s Darfur region, has portrayed himself as a defender of democracy and branded Burhan as the aggressor and a “radical Islamist.” Both generals have a long history of human rights abuses and their forces have cracked down on pro-democracy activists.

Heavy gunbattles raged in multiple parts of the capital and Omdurman, where the two sides have brought in tens of thousands of troops, positioning them in nearly every neighborhood.

Twelve hospitals in the capital area have been “forcefully evacuated” and are “out of service” because of attacks or power outages, the Sudan Doctors’ Syndicate said, out of a total of around 20 hospitals. Four other hospitals outside the capital have also shut down, it added in a statement late Monday.

Hadia Saeed said she and her three children were sheltering in one room on the ground floor of their home for fear of the shelling as gunfire rattled across their Bahri district in north Khartoum. They have food for a few more days, but “after that we don’t know what to do,” she said.

Residents said fierce fighting with artillery and other heavy weapons raged Monday afternoon in the Gabra neighborhood southwest of Khartoum. People were trapped and screaming inside their homes, said Asmaa al-Toum, a physician living in the area.

Fighting has been particularly fierce around each side’s main bases and at strategic government buildings — all of which are in residential areas.

The military on Monday claimed to have secured the main television building in Omdurman, fending off the RSF after days of fighting. State-run Sudan TV resumed broadcasting.

On Sunday, the RSF said it abandoned its main barracks and base, in Omdurman, which the armed forces had pounded with airstrikes. Online videos Monday purported to show the bodies of dozens of men said to be RSF fighters at the base, strewn over beds, the floor of a clinic and outside in a yard. The authenticity of the videos could not be confirmed independently.

The military and RSF were also fighting in most major centers around the country, including in the western Darfur region and parts of the north and the east, by the borders with Egypt and Ethiopia. Battles raged Monday around a strategic airbase in Merowe, some 350 kilometers (215 miles) northwest of the capital, with both sides claiming control of the facility.

Only four years ago, Sudan inspired hope after a popular uprising helped depose long-time autocratic leader Omar al-Bashir.

But the turmoil since, especially the 2021 coup, has frustrated the democracy drive and wrecked the economy. A third of the population — around 16 million people — now depends on humanitarian assistance in the resource-rich nation, Africa’s third largest.

Save the Children, an international charity, said it has temporarily suspended most of its operations across Sudan. It said looters raided its offices in Darfur, stealing medical supplies, laptops, vehicles and a refrigerator. The World Food Program suspended operations over the weekend after three employees were killed in Darfur, and the International Rescue Committee has also halted most operations.

With the U.S., European Union, African and Arab nations all calling for an end to fighting, the U.N. Security Council was to discuss the developments in Sudan. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was consulting with the Arab League, African Union and leaders in the region, urging anyone with influence to press for peace.

At a meeting of the Group of Seven wealthy nations in Japan on Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Sudanese “want the military back in the barracks. They want democracy. They want the civilian-led government, Sudan needs to return to that path.”

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61 dead after clashes between Sudan Army and rivals enter second day

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Sudan’s military and a powerful paramilitary force battled fiercely in the capital and other areas, dealing a new blow to hopes for a transition to democracy and raising fears of a wider conflict. At least five civilians were killed and 78 wounded on Sunday, bringing the two-day toll to 61 dead and more than 670 wounded, said the Sudan Doctors’ Syndicate.

At least one Indian national has died as a result of the fighting. The Indian embassy in Khartoum said, Albert Augestine, who was working in a Dal Group Company in Sudan, died after being hit by a stray bullet.

The clashes capped months of heightened tensions between the military and its partner-turned-rival, the Rapid Support Forces group. Those tensions had delayed a deal with political parties to get the country back to its short-lived transition to democracy, which was derailed by an October 2021 military coup.

Also read | Indians in Sudan asked to stay indoors as fighting breaks out in capital Khartoum

Chaotic scenes unfolded in the capital of Khartoum, where fighters firing from truck-mounted machine guns battled in densely populated neighborhoods. “Fire and explosions are everywhere,” said Amal Mohamed, a doctor in a public hospital in Omdurman. “We haven’t seen such battles in Khartoum before,” said resident Abdel-Hamid Mustafa.

By the end of the day, the military issued a statement ruling out out negotiations with the RSF, instead calling for the dismantling of what it called a “rebellious militia.” The head of the paramilitary group, in turn, branded the armed forces chief a “criminal.” The tough language signaled that the conflict between the former allies, who jointly orchestrated the 2021 coup, was likely to continue.

Meanwhile, diplomatic pressure appeared to be mounting. Top diplomats, including the U.S. Secretary of State, the U.N. secretary-general, the EU foreign policy chief, the head of the Arab League and the head of the African Union Commission urged the sides to stop fighting.

Arab states with stakes in Sudan — Qatar, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — also called for a cease-fire and for both parties to return to negotiations.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he consulted with the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. “We agreed it was essential for the parties to immediately end hostilities without pre-condition,” he said in a statement early Sunday.

Sudanese greet army soldiers, loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, in the Red Sea city of Port Sudan on April 16, 2023.
| Photo Credit:
AFP

The fighting comes after months of escalating tensions between the commander of Sudan’s miltitary, Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and the head of the RSF, Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo. It also followed years of political unrest since the 2021 coup.

The recent tensions stem from disagreement over how the RSF, headed by Dagalo, should be integrated into the armed forces and what authority should oversee the process. The merger is a key condition of Sudan’s unsigned transition agreement with political groups.

The fighting erupted early Saturday. The two sides traded blame over who started and also made rival claims over who controlled strategic installations around the capital.

By early Sunday, at least 56 people had been killed across Sudan and at least 595 wounded.

The Sudan Doctor’s Syndicate said at least six of the deaths were reported in the capital Khartoum and its sister city Omdurman and another eight near Nyala, the capital city of the South Darfur province in the southwest.

The syndicate said the casualty toll was likely higher, with many believed to be still uncounted in western Darfur region and the northern town of Merowe.

The military said in a statement late Saturday that its troops had seized all RSF bases in Omdurman, while residents reported heavy airstrikes on paramilitary positions in and around the capital that continued into the night. After nightfall, sounds of gunfire and explosions were still heard in several parts of Khartoum, they said.

One of the flashpoints was Khartoum International Airport. There was no formal announcement that the airport was closed, but major airlines suspended their flights.

Saudi Arabia’s national airline said one of its aircraft was involved in what it called “an accident.” Video showed the plane on fire on the tarmac. Another plane also appeared to have caught fire. Flight-tracking website FlightRadar24 identified it as a Boeing 737 for SkyUp, a Kyiv, Ukraine-based airline. It did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The doctors’ group said two civilians were killed at the airport.

People carrying their belongings walk along a street in Khartoum on April 16, 2023, as fighting between the forces of 2 rival generals continues.

People carrying their belongings walk along a street in Khartoum on April 16, 2023, as fighting between the forces of 2 rival generals continues.
| Photo Credit:
AFP

Burhan, the armed forces chief, told the Qatar-based satellite news network Al Jazeera, that the day began with RSF troops “harassing” the military south of Khartoum, triggering the clashes. He said RSF fighters entered Khartoum airport and set fire to some planes.

He said all strategic facilities including the military’s headquarters and the Republican palace, the seat of Sudan’s presidency, are under his forces’ control. He threatened to deploy more troops to Khartoum.

Dagalo accused Burhan of starting the battle by surrounding RSF troops. “This criminal, he forced this battle upon us,” he said.

Dagalo told Al Jazeera that he believed the fighting would be over in “the next few days.”

The RSF alleged that its forces controlled strategic locations in Khartoum and the northern city of Merowe some 350 kilometers (215 miles) northwest of the capital. The military dismissed the claims as “lies.”

The clashes also took place in other areas across the country including the Northern province, the conflict-ravaged Darfur region, and the strategic coastal city of Port Sudan on the Red Sea, a military official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media.

Pro-democracy activists have blamed Burhan and Dagalo for abuses against protesters across the county over the past four years, including the deadly break-up of a protest camp outside the military’s headquarters in Khartoum in June 2019 that killed over 120 protesters. Many groups have repeatedly called for holding them accountable. The RSF has long been accused of atrocities linked to the Darfur conflict.

Former Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, who was ousted in the 2021 coup, warned of a possible regional conflict if the fighting escalates. “Shooting must stop immediately,” he said in a video appeal to both sides posted on his Twitter account.

Cameron Hudson, a senior associate with the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank and a former U.S. diplomat, said the fighting could become wider and prolonged, calling on the United States to form a coalition of regional countries to pressure the leaders of the military and RSF to de-escalate.

Volker Perthes, the U.N. envoy for Sudan, and the Saudi ambassador in Sudan, Ali Bin Hassan Jaffar, were in contact with Dagalo and Burhan to try to end the violence, said a U.N. official who asked for anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

Chad announced that it is closing its land borders with Sudan

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