The head of the UN mission in Sudan, Volker Perthes, says the Sudan conflict could turn into an ethnic and tribal civil war as warring sides step up efforts to recruit fighters. He describes the situation as a “stalemate where both sides still think that if they can mobilise a bit more, [...] they could win over the other”. Fighting has raged in Sudan since mid-April, when army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), turned on each other. Around 3,000 people have been killed, and the UN has warned of possible crimes against humanity in the western region of Darfur. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES