African Union, Sudan, DRC & other topics - Daily Press Briefing (14 February 2025) | United Nations

Noon Briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.

Highlights:
- Secretary-General
- Sudan
- Democratic Republic of the Congo – Humanitarian
- Democratic Republic of the Congo/Peacekeeping
- Occupied Palestinian Territory
- Syria/Humanitarian
- Syria
- South Sudan
- Abyei
- Financial Contributions

SECRETARY-GENERAL
This morning, the Secretary-General, who as you know, is attending the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, spoke to a high-level humanitarian conference for the people of Sudan. He said that in his previous capacity as High Commissioner for Refugees, he saw firsthand the enormous generosity of the Sudanese people – as they supported their own internally displaced population as well as refugees. Now, he added, the international community must show the same level of support to the Sudanese people in their moment of despair.
Later in the day, he participated in meetings of the African Union Peace and Security Council [at the level of Heads of State and Government], on the situation in Sudan and on the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, and I’ll have more on that later on the situation on the ground.
On Sudan, the Secretary- General repeated that there is no military solution, that the parties to the conflict must engage for an immediate cessation of hostilities.
The Secretary-General addressed the Peace and Security Council during a closed-door session.
But as you can imagine, he repeated our call on the parties to the conflict to engage for an immediate cessation of hostilities there.
Speaking about the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, I can tell you that the Secretary-General called for the swift implementation of the conclusions of the Joint Summit of leaders of the East African Community and the Southern African Development Community.
Throughout the day, the Secretary-General had a number of bilateral meetings. including with the departing Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Mr. Moussa Faki, as well as the Presidents of Kenya, Rwanda and Guinea-Bissau.
And as a reminder, he will deliver remarks tomorrow during the opening session of the African Union Summit, that will take place on Saturday.

SUDAN
On Sudan, just to give you more granularity, I can tell you that we are very much alarmed by the escalation of fighting in and around the Zamzam displacement camp in El Fasher, in North Darfur. The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that attacks by the Rapid Support Forces on the camp have increased over the past week, with reports – including satellite images – indicating the use of heavy weaponry and the destruction of the main market area.
International NGOs in Zamzam have reported extensive civilian casualties, with humanitarian personnel among those reportedly killed.
Zamzam is estimated to be hosting hundreds of thousands of displaced people.
And as you know, it is also among the locations in Sudan where famine conditions have been identified, making reports of the destruction of the camp’s market area particularly concerning and in fact, it’s one of these locations where we lose the right words to describe the horror of the situation. As you well know, the World Food Programme and partners have been working to deliver critical food and nutrition assistance to 300,000 displaced people in and around Zamzam. This latest round of violence puts families and critical aid operations at further risk.
We demand that the parties to the conflict adhere to their obligations under international humanitarian law. Attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure are prohibited. All sides must take steps to protect civilians from harm - and those seeking to leave the area voluntarily, must be allowed to do so in a safe and dignified manner.
And just to flag that on Monday, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Tom Fletcher – alongside Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, will together launch the 2025 Sudan Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan and the Regional Refugee Response Plan for Sudan. They are expected to call for strengthened protection and support for civilians impacted by nearly two years of conflict and the need to assist nearly 26 million human beings in need inside Sudan and across borders.

Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/ossg/noon-briefing-highlight?date%5Bvalue%5D%5Bdate%5D=14+February+2025