TRANSCRIPT
More than a hundred days since fighting erupted in Sudan, the United Nations Security Council has met to discuss potential solutions to the conflict.
Senior UN aid official Edem Wosornu says Sudan's civilian population is suffering greatly.
"More than 4 million people have now fled their homes, 3.2 million people displaced internally in the country, and close to 900,000 people who have crossed the border into Chad, Egypt, South Sudan and other countries. The alarming accounts of sexual violence that I heard from people who have fled to Port Sudan are just a fraction of those being repeated at a sickening scale from conflict hotspots across the country."
The Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces have both claimed military advances in recent days, but there are no signs of a breakthrough.
The UN Assistant Secretary General for Africa, Martha Akyaa Pobee, says the rival sides have exacted tremendous suffering on the people of the Darfur region.
"The fighting in Darfur continues to reopen the old wounds of ethnic tension of past conflicts in the region. The brutal violence experienced in El Geneina and Sirba are particular examples of this situation."
The Rapid Support Forces group has rejected allegations of rape by its members.
It says the claims are being promoted by supporters of former president Omar al-Bashir's regime.
The RSF says it is willing to co-operate with any independent investigation.
Sudan's Ambassador to the UN, Al-Harith Idriss Mohamed, says the army is not responsible for atrocities.
"The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) are not involved in any sexual or gender violence and the party involved in this atrocity is very well known... In fact, SAF is defending citizens who are forcibly displaced... And by the way, if this happens in any of your countries, tell me, what would be your reaction? Would you stand helplessly watching those militias raping your women and looting your property while doing nothing? Or will you deploy your armed forces to defend you?"
The United States' Ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, has expressed scepticism.
"It's all over the country. We have seen this kind of violence being perpetrated by both sides, so there are no innocents here."
The U-S had expected the special representative of the secretary-general in Sudan, Volker Perthes, to brief the Security Council.
Its ambassador was critical of his absence.
"We now know that the Sudanese government threatened to end the UN mission in Sudan if the SRSG participated in this briefing - and that was really outrageous. And I did make that point in in the Council. No country should be able to bully a briefer into silence, let alone the United Nations."
Russia's Deputy Ambassador to the UN, Anna Evstigneeva, has accused Western countries of interfering in Sudan's internal political processes.
"Western countries with the support of SRSG (Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Sudan) Volker Perthes, who has lost the trust of the Sudanese, have actively interfered in the Sudanese internal political process and have irresponsibly imposed red lines on the parties. Therefore, they bear responsibility for the failure of the situation in the country. In light of the situation that has arisen with regard to UN presence in the country, we understand the decision of the Sudanese authorities."
