UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The Sudanese government accused the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday of fueling the 14-month war in the African country by providing weapons to a rival paramilitary force. The UAE dismissed the allegation as “ludicrous,” calling “a shameful abuse by one of the warring parties.”
The clash came during a U.N. Security Council meeting at which Assistant Secretary-General Martha Pobee warned that atrocities are being committed along ethnic lines in Sudan’s western Darfur region.
She urged an immediate cease-fire in the North Darfur capital, El Fasher, which is besieged by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, “to prevent further atrocities, protect critical infrastructure, and alleviate civilian suffering.”
Sudanese Ambassador Al-Harith Mohamed accused the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces of “destructively launching” its war with the Sudanese military and attacking civilians, aided by weapons from the UAE.
He said that Sudan has evidence of the UAE supplying weapons and that the government will submit a file on UAE actions to the International Criminal Court.
The UAE's ambassador, Mohamed Abushahab, said those were “false allegations” and demanded to know why Sudan’s government refuses to return to peace talks.
Turning to Sudan’s ambassador seated beside him at the Security Council’s horseshoe-shaped table, Abushahab said: “You should stop grandstanding in international fora such as this and instead take responsibility for ending the conflict you started."
U.N. experts monitoring an arms embargo in Darfur reported “credible” evidence in January that the UAE sent weapons to the Rapid Support Forces several times a week from northern Chad. U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield on Tuesday reiterated a U.S. appeal to all “external actors to stop fueling and prolonging this conflict, and enabling these atrocities, by sending weapons to Sudan."
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Sudan’s Mohamed urged the council to “walk the extra mile by naming and shaming the United Arab Emirates."
Edem Wosornu, operations director for the U.N. humanitarian office, told the council the lives of 800,000 civilians trapped in El Fasher “hang in the balance,” echoing the risk of mass atrocities and warning that the violence in the encircled city “is just the tip of the iceberg.”
She said indiscriminate bombings are affecting millions of people in Darfur, sexual violence remains rampant, and “famine is imminent.” Almost 5 million people face emergency levels of food insecurity and over 2 million in 41 “hunger hotspots are at high risk of slipping into catastrophic hunger in the coming weeks,” Wosornu said.
Two decades ago, Darfur became synonymous with genocide and war crimes, particularly by the notorious Janjaweed Arab militias, against populations that identify as Central or East African. Up to 300,000 people were killed and 2.7 million were driven from their homes.
Sudan plunged into conflict again in mid-April 2023, when long-simmering tensions between its military and paramilitary leaders broke out in the capital, Khartoum, and spread to other regions including Darfur. The U.N. says over 14,000 people have been killed and 33,000 injured.
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces was formed from Janjaweed fighters by then Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who ruled the country for three decades before being overthrown during a popular uprising in 2019. He is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of genocide and other crimes during the conflict in Darfur in the 2000s.
Last Thursday, the Security Council adopted a resolution demanding the Rapid Support Forces immediately halt its siege of El Fasher — the only capital in Darfur it doesn’t control. The council also urged the paramilitary force and Sudan's military “to seek an immediate cessation of hostilities.”
Sudan accuses UAE of fueling war with weapons to paramilitary rivals. UAE calls claim `ludicrous'
Sudan accuses UAE of fueling war with weapons to paramilitary rivals. UAE calls claim `ludicrous'
FILE - Sudanese soldiers from the Rapid Support Forces unit, led by Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, the deputy head of the military council, secure the area where Dagalo attends a military-backed tribe's rally, in the East Nile province, Sudan, on June 22, 2019. The U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution Thursday, June 13, 2024, demanding that Sudan’s paramilitary force halt its siege of the only capital in the vast western region of Darfur that it doesn’t control where more than a million people are reportedly trapped. The resolution, which was approved by a vote of 14-0 with Russia abstaining, expresses “grave concern” at the spreading violence and credible reports that the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces are carrying out “ethnically motivated violence” in El Fasher. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)
LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Armored vehicles rammed the doors of Bolivia’s government palace Wednesday in an apparent coup attempt, but President Luis Arce vowed to stand firm and named a new army commander who ordered troops to stand down.
Soon the soldiers pulled back, along with a line of military vehicles, as hundreds of Arce's supporters rushed the square outside the palace, waving Bolivian flags, singing the national anthem and cheering.
Arce, surrounded by ministers, waved at the crowd. “Thank you to the Bolivian people,” he said. “ Let democracy live on.”
Hours later, the Bolivian general who appeared to be behind the rebellion, Juan José Zúñiga, was arrested after the attorney general opened an investigation. It wasn’t immediately clear what the charges were against him.
However, in a twist, Zúñiga claimed in comments to journalists before his arrest that Arce himself told the general to storm the palace in a political move. “The president told me: ‘The situation is very screwed up, very critical. It is necessary to prepare something to raise my popularity’,” Zúñiga quoted the Bolivian leader as saying.
Zúñiga sajd he asked Arce if he should “take out the armored vehicles?” and Arce replied, “Take them out.”
There was no immediate response from Arce to the allegations, and the Ministry of the Presidency did not respond to an Associated Press request for comment.
Wednesday’s rebellion followed months of tensions, with economic hardship and protests growing ever stronger as two political titans — Arce and his one-time ally, leftist former President Evo Morales — battled for control of the ruling party.
Still, the apparent attempt to depose the sitting president appeared to lack any meaningful support, and even Arce’s rivals closed ranks to defend democracy and repudiate the uprising.
The spectacle shocked Bolivians, no stranger to political unrest; in 2019 Morales was ousted as president following an earlier political crisis.
As the crisis unfolded Wednesday, military vehicles flooded into the plaza. Before entering the government palace, Zúñiga told journalists: “Surely soon there will be a new Cabinet of ministers; our country, our state cannot go on like this.” Zúñiga said that “for now,” though, he recognized Arce as commander in chief.
Zúñiga did not explicitly say he was leading a coup, but said the army was trying to “restore democracy and free our political prisoners.”
Shortly after, Arce confronted Zúñiga in the palace hallway, as shown on video on Bolivian television. “I am your captain, and I order you to withdraw your soldiers, and I will not allow this insubordination,” Arce said.
Surrounded by ministers, he added: “Here we are, firm in Casa Grande, to confront any coup attempt. We need the Bolivian people to organize.”
Less than an hour later, Arce announced new heads of the army, navy and air force amid the roar of supporters, and thanked the country’s police and regional allies for standing by him. Arce said the troops who rose against him were “staining the uniform” of the military.
“I order all that are mobilized to return to their units," said the newly named army chief José Wilson Sánchez. “No one wants the images we’re seeing in the streets.”
Shortly after, the armored vehicles roared out of the plaza, tailed by hundreds of military fighters as police in riot gear set up blockades outside the government palace.
The incident was met with a wave of outrage by other regional leaders, including the Organization of American States, Chilean President Gabriel Boric, the leader of Honduras, and former Bolivian leaders.
Bolivia, a country of 12 million people, has seen intensifying protests in recent months over the economy’s precipitous decline from one of the continent’s fastest-growing two decades ago to one of its most crisis-stricken.
The country also has seen a high-profile rift at the highest levels of the governing party. Arce and his one-time ally, Morales, have been battling for the future of Bolivia’s splintering Movement for Socialism, known by its Spanish acronym MAS, ahead of elections in 2025.
Following Wednesday's chaos, reports on local media showed Bolivians stocking up on food and other essentials in supermarkets, concerned about what will come next.
But before supporters outside the presidential palace the country’s Vice President David Choquehuanca vowed: "Never again will the Bolivian people permit coup attempts.”
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Janetsky reported from Mexico City.
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Janetsky reported from Mexico City.
Bolivian President Luis Arce raises a clenched fist surrounded by supporters and media, outside the government palace in La Paz, Bolivia, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. Armored vehicles rammed the doors of Bolivia's government palace Wednesday in an apparent coup attempt against Arce, but he vowed to stand firm and named a new army commander who ordered troops to stand down. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
Supporters of President Luis Arce chase soldiers as they flee from Plaza Murillo, after a failed coup attempt in La Paz, Bolivia, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. Armored vehicles rammed into the doors of Bolivia’s government palace located in Plaza Murillo as Arce said the country faced an attempted coup. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
FILE - Bolivian President Luis Arce attends an Indigenous ritual before delivering his annual state of the nation address at the presidential palace in La Paz, Bolivia, Jan. 22, 2024. Armored vehicles rammed into the doors of Bolivia's government palace Wednesday, June 26, 2024, as a top government official warned of a coup attempt. (AP Photo/Juan Karita, File) (AP Photo/Juan Karita, File)
A soldier gestures for journalists to leave Plaza Murillo as soldiers gather outside the presidential palace in Plaza Murillo in La Paz, Bolivia, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. Bolivian President Luis Arce warned Wednesday that an “irregular” deployment of troops was taking place in the capital, raising concerns that a potential coup was underway. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
Soldiers gather outside the Legislative Assembly in Plaza Murillo in La Paz, Bolivia, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
Soldiers block the street in front of the presidential palace, right, and the Legislative Assembly, left, in Plaza Murillo in La Paz, Bolivia, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
Soldiers walk amid tear gas they fired outside the Legislative Assembly in Plaza Murillo in La Paz, Bolivia, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
Military Police gather outside the main entrance to the presidential palace in Plaza Murillo in La Paz, Bolivia, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
Military Police stand amid tear gas they fired outside the presidential palace in Plaza Murillo in La Paz, Bolivia, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
A soldier gestures for journalists to leave Plaza Murillo as soldiers gather near the presidential palace in Plaza Murillo in La Paz, Bolivia, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
