Sudan has rejected a call by UN experts for an “independent and impartial force” to protect civilians in the conflict-stricken African country.

The conflict in Sudan is a power struggle between the army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy and head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The conflict, which started in April last year, has killed tens of thousands of people, devastated wide swathes of Sudan and displaced millions of people, triggering one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

The Sudanese foreign ministry, which is loyal to the army chief, said in a statement late Saturday that Sudan has rejected the call by UN experts for an “independent and impartial force” to protect civilians driven from their homes by war.

It called the fact-finding mission created by the UN Human Rights Council to report on the conflict in Sudan “a political and illegal body” and the panel’s recommendations “a flagrant violation of their mandate.”

“The Sudanese government rejects in their entirety the recommendations of the UN mission,” the statement read.

It accused the paramilitary RSF of “systematically targeting civilians and civilian institutions”.

“The protection of civilians remains an absolute priority for the Sudanese government,” it said.

The Sudanese foreign ministry statement also rejected the UN experts’ call for an arms embargo.

Meanwhile, World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus visited Sudan on Sunday.

He warned, “The scale of the emergency is shocking, as is the insufficient action being taken to curtail the conflict and respond to the suffering it is causing.”

Ghebreyesus told the “world to wake up and help Sudan out of the nightmare it is living through.” 

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