This week, the United States accused the RSF militia in Sudan\u2019s brutal civil conflict of committing genocide. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s the second time in two decades that genocide has been declared in the northeast African nation, where thousands have died and millions are in the grip of a humanitarian crisis. <\/p>\n
For 20 months, two of Sudan\u2019s most powerful generals \u2013 Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, leader of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, who heads the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) \u2013 have viciously competed for territory in a country still reeling from the massacre of tens of thousands of people in the early 2000s and the displacement of millions more. <\/p>\n
The two men \u2013 former allies \u2013 jointly ousted President Omar al-Bashir from office in 2019. Together, they also contributed to another coup in 2021 when al-Burhan seized power from the country\u2019s transitional government. <\/p>\n
Today, Sudan is riven by conflict, with the RSF believed to be in control of much of the country\u2019s western and central regions, including Darfur and parts of the capital Khartoum. <\/p>\n
More than 11 million people have been internally displaced since the fighting erupted in April 2023, according to the United Nations, while millions more have fled Sudan. <\/p>\n
Hunger is widespread and famine conditions are now present in several areas of the country, the UN has warned. <\/p>\n
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday that Hemedti\u2019s RSF and its allied Arab militias had perpetrated \u201cdirect attacks against civilians\u201d including the systematic murder of \u201cmen and boys \u2013 even infants \u2013 on an ethnic basis.\u201d <\/p>\n
They also \u201cdeliberately targeted women and girls from certain ethnic groups for rape and other forms of brutal sexual violence,\u201d Blinken said, adding that the same forces \u201ctargeted fleeing civilians, murdering innocent people escaping conflict, and prevented remaining civilians from accessing lifesaving supplies.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cBased on this information, I have now concluded that members of the RSF and allied militias have committed genocide in Sudan,\u201d he announced. <\/p>\n
The RSF described the decision by the US as \u201cunjust,\u201d adding in a statement on its Telegram channel that \u201cthe State Department\u2019s claim that the RSF committed genocide in Sudan is inaccurate.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThe decision fails to specify the group against which the alleged genocide was committed or the location of the genocide \u2026 The decision vaguely refers to the Sudanese people, of whom RSF fighters and supporters are an integral part,\u201d the RSF statement said. <\/p>\n
The RSF has a history connected to ethnic-driven violence. The paramilitary group grew out of the Arab Janjaweed militia that oversaw the genocide of the early 2000s. That carnage left an estimated 300,000 people dead. <\/p>\n
Since fighting erupted in mid-April 2023 between the RSF and the SAF, ethnically motivated killings have intensified, particularly in the western Darfur region. This mirrors the pattern of targeted killings that typified the first genocide. <\/p>\n
West Darfur witnessed some of its worst ethnic-related killings in 2023, when hundreds of people from non-Arab ethnic groups were massacred by the RSF and forces linked to it. On Tuesday, the US imposed sanctions on their leader Hemedti, \u201cfor his role in systematic atrocities committed against the Sudanese people,\u201d and sanctioned seven RSF-linked companies and one individual \u201cfor their roles in procuring weapons for the RSF.\u201d <\/p>\n
In September last year, a United Nations fact-finding mission accused both the SAF and the RSF of complicity in war crimes. <\/p>\n
And in his statement, Blinken laid blame for abuses at the door of both parties. \u201cThe United States does not support either side of this war, and these actions against Hemedti and the RSF do not signify support or favor for the SAF,\u201d he said. \u201cBoth belligerents bear responsibility for the violence and suffering in Sudan and lack the legitimacy to govern a future peaceful Sudan.\u201d <\/p>\n
In Darfur, she said, where she has worked for over 20 years, sexual violence has been \u201cused as a tool of terror to force communities to submit to the RSF,\u201d \u2013 a pattern seen in previous conflicts that has been replicated by the militia group, she claimed. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the same method and strategy,\u201d she said of the alleged sexual crimes. \u201cIt\u2019s also used for retaliation in their war against SAF and it has ethnic elements to it.\u201d <\/p>\n
Al-Karib said that between October and January, her organization had handled cases of at least 10 girls, some as young as 14, who took their own lives after being gang-raped by RSF militia men in Sudan\u2019s Al Jazira state. This had followed the defection of an RSF commander in the area to SAF, she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe RSF has been completely emboldened by impunity, a lack of accountability, and the fact that they were not seriously subjected to any sort of accountability,\u201d she said, welcoming the US sanctions against Hemedti. <\/p>\n
Civilians and aid agencies have also borne the brunt of frequent shelling and staged raids by the Sudanese army and the RSF \u2013 targeting civilian areas and causing multiple casualties. <\/p>\n
Last month, more than 100 people were killed after bombs fell on a crowded market in North Darfur. In the same month, three staff members of the World Food Programme (WFP) were killed in an airstrike on the agency\u2019s office in Blue Nile State, wrapping up \u201cthe deadliest year on record for aid workers in Sudan,\u201d the UN said. <\/p>\n
Dozens of airstrikes with multiple fatalities are reported daily by Sudanese media. A senior procurement official who led the SAF\u2019s acquisition of arms was sanctioned by the US last October. <\/p>\n
The RSF and the Sudanese military typically blame one each other for such attacks, with a recent statement from the RSF criticizing the US for overlooking \u201cwidespread atrocities committed by the SAF, including aerial bombardments that have claimed the lives of more than 4,000 civilians.\u201d <\/p>\n
Before the deadly power tussle erupted between the SAF and the RSF, Sudan already ranked among the world\u2019s poorest countries with decades of conflict hindering its economic growth. <\/p>\n
Their war, now in its second year, has displaced more than 11 million people within Sudan, while some 3.2 million others have fled to neighboring countries, according to UN figures. <\/p>\n
Some of those unable to flee are harbored in Darfur\u2019s Zanzam camp, where famine was declared last month. The camp, home to around half a million displaced people, has also come under RSF bombardment. <\/p>\n
Hunger in Darfur has sometimes forced people to eat \u201cgrass and peanut shells\u201d to survive, the then WFP regional director for Eastern Africa, Michael Dunford, said last year, amid warnings by the UN that some 26 million Sudanese were facing acute hunger. <\/p>\n
Food deliveries to Darfur resumed last August after a key border crossing was reopened by authorities for aid to enter Sudan. But in parts of Darfur, aid organizations are still impeded by restrictions and famine conditions area spreading to additional areas, a UN report said this week. <\/p>\n
On Friday, humanitarian group M\u00e9decins Sans Fronti\u00e8res, or, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said it was suspending activities at one of the last operating hospitals in the RSF-controlled south Khartoum, citing recurring attacks from armed fighters. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe medical needs are overwhelming. Injuries are often horrific. Mass casualty incidents have become almost routine,\u201d MSF\u2019s Emergency Coordinator, Claire San Filippo said in a statement. <\/p>\n
The Sudanese conflict has been largely overshadowed by hostilities in other parts of the world such as in Ukraine and Gaza, International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva said last year. <\/p>\n
However, warring factions in the African nation have also defied global efforts to end the conflict. <\/p>\n
Last month, Blinken told the UN Security Council that foreign actors were fueling the war in Sudan, but he did not name who they were. <\/p>\n
\u201cTo the foreign sponsors sending drones, missiles, mercenaries \u2013 enough. To those profiting off the illicit oil and gold trade that fund this conflict \u2013 enough,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Sudan\u2019s military government has frequently accused the United Arab Emirates of arming the RSF, but the Gulf nation denies this. The seven RSF-linked companies that were sanctioned by the US on Tuesday are all based in the UAE. <\/p>\n
In November, Russia vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that called on Sudan\u2019s warring factions to end the fighting, strengthen protections for civilians and allow the delivery of humanitarian aid. Sudan\u2019s military-backed foreign ministry welcomed Russia\u2019s action, saying the UN resolution undermined Sudan\u2019s sovereignty. <\/p>\n
Nonetheless, it is \u201ca form of justice because it recognizes victims\u2019 grievances,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a step towards peace and accountability by paving the way to hold actors responsible to account, not only perpetrators themselves but actors complicit in genocide,\u201d added Ali, a legal adviser at the Canada-based Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights. <\/p>\n
For activist Al-Karib, US sanctions against Hemedti and the declaration of genocide could be crucial in not only reining in his militia but also curbing the support he receives from foreign actors. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t think that the scale of these atrocities happening in Sudan and Darfur would have been this big without the support of the UAE to the RSF,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo, we hope that the US decision to sanction Hemedti will send a strong message to the UAE to rethink its position and engage in a serious political process to end these atrocities and genocidal acts happening across the country.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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