U.N. Secretary-General Expresses Concern Over Escalating War in Sudan

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The United Nations secretary-general warned Tuesday that the war in Sudan is “spiraling out of control” after a paramilitary force seized the besieged and famine-stricken Darfur city of el-Fasher. Speaking in Qatar, Antonio Guterres called for an immediate ceasefire in the two-year conflict that’s become one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. “Hundreds of thousands of civilians are trapped by this siege,” Guterres said. “People are dying of malnutrition, disease and violence.” He noted “credible reports of widespread executions since the Rapid Support Forces entered the city.” The paramilitary RSF reportedly killed more than 450 people in a hospital and carried out ethnically targeted killings of civilians and sexual assaults while seizing the city last week. It had besieged el-Fasher for 18 months, cutting off most food and other supplies needed by tens of thousands of people.