UNITED NATIONS: Russia on Monday vetoed a UN Security Council resolution 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 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 paralysed 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 powers.

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.”

In a statement, the Sudanese foreign ministry said it was “welcoming Russia’s veto,” adding that it viewed the gesture as “support for the independence and unity of Sudan and its national institutions.” 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 said 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.

Published in Dawn, November 19th, 2024