UNITED NATIONS — The United States on Monday called on all countries supplying weapons to Sudan’s warring factions to halt arms sales, warning that history is “repeating itself” in the vast western region of Darfur, where a genocide took place 20 years ago.
U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters after a closed emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council that El Fasher, the only capital in Darfur not in the hands of paramilitary forces, “is on the verge of a large-scale massacre.”
She urged all countries to raise the threat that “a crisis of epic proportions is unfolding.” British Deputy Ambassador James Kariuki echoed her call, saying: “The last thing Sudan needs is further escalation on top of this conflict that has been going on for some time. whole year.”
Thomas-Greenfield said there are “credible reports” that the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and their allied militias have razed many villages west of El Fasher and are planning “an imminent attack on El Fasher.”
“An attack on El Fasher would be a disaster on top of a disaster,” Thomas-Greenfield warned. He said this would endanger the two million people living in El Fasher and the 500,000 Sudanese who have taken refuge there.
Thomas-Greenfield urged paramilitary forces known as the RSF to end their siege of El Fasher “and renounce any attack on the city.”
She urged the RSF and rival government forces to take urgent steps to de-escalate violence and engage in direct negotiations, protect civilians and enable humanitarian access, especially for the 5 million Sudanese “on the brink of famine” and 10 million others in desperate need. need for help.
In mid-April 2023, Sudan plunged into chaos as long-simmering tensions between the army, led by General Abdel Fattah Burhan, and the paramilitary RSF led by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, erupted into street fighting in the capital Khartoum. The fighting has spread to other parts of the country, especially urban areas and the Darfur region.
UN political chief Rosemary DiCarlo told the council on April 19 that the years-long war has been fueled by weapons from foreign supporters who continue to ignore UN sanctions aimed at helping end the conflict. “This is illegal, it is immoral and it has to stop,” she said.
She did not name any of the foreign supporters.
But Burhan, who led a military takeover of Sudan in 2021, is a close ally of neighboring Egypt and its president, former army chief Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi. In February, Sudan’s foreign minister held talks in Tehran with his Iranian counterpart, amid unconfirmed reports of the purchase of drones for government forces.
Dagalo, the leader of the RSF, has reportedly received support from Russia’s Wagner mercenary group. UN experts said in a recent report that the RSF has also received support from Arab allied communities and from new military supply lines running through Chad, Libya and South Sudan.
Thomas-Greenfield said Monday that all regional powers should stop supplying weapons to the warring sides as the U.N. arms embargo requires, and told reporters that the United States will continue to pressure them.
In response to a question, she said one of the countries the United States has engaged with is the United Arab Emirates, which has repeatedly denied supplying weapons to Sudan.
The UN’s DiCarlo painted a bleak picture of the war’s impact: more than 14,000 dead, tens of thousands injured, a looming famine with 25 million people needing life-saving aid, and more than 8.6 million people forced to flee their homes.
During the war, the Arab-dominated RSF has carried out brutal attacks in Darfur against ethnic African civilians, especially the ethnic Masalit, and has taken control of most of the vast region – with El Fasher its latest target.
Twenty years ago, Darfur became synonymous with genocide and war crimes, especially by the infamous Arab Janjaweed militias, against populations who identify as Central or East African. Up to 300,000 people were killed and 2.7 million people were driven from their homes.
That legacy seems to have returned. International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan said in January that there are reasons to believe both sides may be committing war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide in Darfur.
The RSF was formed from Janjaweed fighters by former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who ruled the country for three decades before being overthrown in a popular uprising in 2019. He is wanted by the ICC on charges of genocide and other crimes during the conflict in Darfur in the 2000s.