Sudan is on the brink of a "full-scale civil war" that could destabilise the entire region, the United Nations warned on Sunday, after an air strike on a residential area killed around two dozen civilians.
Sudan's Ministry of Health reported "22 dead and a large number of wounded among the civilians" from the strike on Khartoum's sister city Omdurman, in the district of Dar al-Salam, which means "House of Peace" in Arabic.
Around 3,000 people have been killed in the conflict across Sudan and there has been widespread looting and reports of sexual violence with the UN warning of possible crimes against humanity in the Darfur region.
A video posted by the health ministry on Facebook showed apparently lifeless bodies after the airstrike, including several women. The narrator says that residents "counted 22 dead".
Laws disregarded
After nearly three months of war between Sudan's army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, the air strike is the latest incident to provoke international outrage AFP news agency reports.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday condemned the air strike in Omdurman. The airstrike "reportedly killed at least 22 people" and wounded dozens, his deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq said in a statement.
Guterres "remains deeply concerned that the ongoing war between the armed forces has pushed Sudan to the brink of a full-scale civil war, potentially destabilising the entire region," Haq said.
Since the war between the army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces started in April, there has been ''an utter disregard for humanitarian and human rights law that is dangerous and disturbing," he added.
Renewed efforts
Nearly three million people have been uprooted by Sudan's fighting, among them almost 700,000 who have fled to neighbouring countries according to the International Organization for Migration.
Haq expressed support for efforts by the African Union and East African bloc IGAD to end Sudan 's crisis. Leaders of Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and South Sudan - IGAD members handling the Sudan file - are to meet in Addis Ababa on Monday.
Sudan's army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo have been invited but neither side has confirmed they will attend. Numerous ceasefires in the war have been announced but largely ignored.
