Statement by the Deputy Permanent Representative of Brazil to the United Nations, Ambassador João Genésio de Almeida Filho, on the briefing reports of the UNSG on Sudan and South Sudan (UNITAMS) - May 22nd, 2023

Thank you, Madam President.

Let me start by thanking Special Representative Perthes, Commissioner Adeoye, and Executive Secretary Gebeyehu for providing essential briefings today,

I welcome Ambassador Idriss al-Harith Mohamed and Sudan's delegation to this meeting.

I also commend the tireless work of the UNITAMS, African Union, and IGAD personnel in a highly demanding situation.

Madam President,

Brazil is concerned by the humanitarian challenges provoked by over a month of continuous armed conflict.

We stand in solidarity with the people of Sudan.

We commend the communities who have assisted fleeing families in every corner of Sudan and Egypt, Chad, the Central African Republic, South Sudan, and Ethiopia.

We commend the vital work of the UN personnel and the humanitarian agencies on the ground.

I convey our appreciation for the adjustments Special Representative Perthes and UNITAMS have made since 15 April to implement the mission's mandate.

Madam President,

As argued by the Secretary-General in his latest report, Sudan's rapid descent into deadly conflict is a terrible setback for the country.

We believe another terrible setback would be the insistence on solving the current conflict through military means.

The United Nations, the African Union, IGAD, the League of Arab States, and virtually all partners of Sudan have called for ceasefires and truces precisely because military means will not solve the root causes of the ongoing conflict.

We also endorse the Saudi-American initiative that led to the declaration of commitments to protect the civilians of Sudan.

We echo the trilateral mechanism and welcome the short-term ceasefire and humanitarian arrangements agreed upon on Saturday in Jeddah.

Madam President,

We call on the SAF and the RSF to exercise maximum restraint and uphold the truce.

We encourage them to use negotiation, mediation, dialogue, and peaceful conflict resolution tools.

These instruments are all means to achieve peace in Sudan, an end that, we are convinced, profoundly interests the parties to the conflict and the Sudanese people.

We thus emphasize that negotiation between the RSF and the SAF is not surrendering – from any side.

Negotiation is instead the first step to halting the current military clashes, providing adequate protection for millions of civilians in Sudan, and avoiding additional damage to essential civilian infrastructure in Khartoum, Omdurman, Darfur, and elsewhere.

Peaceful coexistence is instead a prerequisite.

It is among the conditions that will enable the parties to the conflict to pave the way for a political transition to a civilian-led government.

There will be no Sudanese ownership of its political process without peaceful coexistence between its leading military and paramilitary forces.

Madam President,

We sincerely hope the Sudanese stakeholders realize the damage that continuous fighting has caused and will cause to Sudan and the Sudanese people.

We call on them to engage with the ongoing initiatives in good faith.

There is widespread international support for reaching a peace deal between the parties.

The African Union, IGAD, the League of Arab States, and partners of Sudan have led the primary initiatives to reach a ceasefire.

The next step is silencing the guns. Once and for all.

Thank you.