Office of the Spokesperson - Media Department

Republic of Sudan
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Office of the Spokesperson - Media Department

Press Statement

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs praises the findings of the latest report of "Human Rights Watch" (HRW) on Western Darfur which asserted that there is a global inaction towards the atrocities committed by the terrorist RSF militia, namely genocide, ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity and widespread sexual violence. The Ministry has continued to warn the international community of such inaction and its grave consequences.

The HRW report, in calling for imposing international sanctions on the leader of the Militia, his deputy, and other Miltia leaders , reinforces the demands of prominent law makers in the United States that international criminal justice be applied to the Militia's leaders. The current escalation by the terrorist militia in its attacks on El Fasher city, the pursuit of a scorched-earth policy, the razing of entire villages, and the constant bombing of residential neighborhoods devoid of military presence, is one of the apparent results of international inaction in confronting the crimes committed by the militia. As is known, El Fasher city hosts the largest number of displaced persons who have fled other regions in Darfur to escape the atrocities committed by the militia. Therefore, targeting of El Fasher constitutes the targeting of displaced persons and civilians, and is an affirmation of the insistence of the Militia and its mercenaries from the African Sahel States to commit genocide and ethnic cleansing against specific population groups, as described in the HRW report.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs affirms that the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Joint Forces are capable of defeating these evil schemes. However, it draws attention to the fact that the escalation on attacks on El-Fasher occurred despite calls issued by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the UN Security Council and several senior Western officials not to attack the city. This demonstrates that the Militia does not pay attention to any calls that are not accompanied by serious international action to force it to stop its aggression. It is unfortunate that, while such calls were repeatedly made, the regional sponsor of the militia adamantly continued to supply it with arms and weapons to sustain its attacks on unarmed civilians, while a permanent member of the UN Security Council assumed the task of obstructing the Council from carrying out its role in this regard. The Militia's persistence in its atrocities and horrific violations of international humanitarian law is a direct result of such negative and contradictory messages from Western Powers. The HRW report provides a detailed description of the criminal and terrorist methods used by the Militia over many months to depopulate West Darfur State, which amounts to genocide. It is therefore puzzling that Western circles and UN officials insist that the Adre - El Geneina corridor be the main entry point for humanitarian assistance to Sudan and not the agreed-upon “At-teena” corridor . Insisting on the delivery of humanitarian assistance through El Geneina whose population has been forcefully evicted by the Militia's terrorist acts will provide it with a new weapon to use against civilians and displaced persons in Darfur, who will be at its mercy to obtain humanitarian need. The Militia's history of looting humanitarian aid warehouses and convoys and its deliberate and announced disruption of the delivery of food and medicine to the needy, practices not met with the necessary condemnation and firmness by the international community, leaves no room for doubt that the Militia will use starvation as a weapon against civilians and will exploit the passage of humanitarian aid to transport weapons to its mercenaries. Conversely , the creative cooperation between the Sudanese Government and a number sisterly and friendly countries in delivering humanitarian assistance from within the country to various regions, particularly cities hosting displaced persons, has been very successful and had tangible effects on the ground in alleviating human suffering.

Finally, The Ministry of Foreign Affairs would like to once again draw the attention to the atrocities which the Militia continues to perpetuate in Al Gazira state and parts of the national capital and other states, where it constantly targets safe villages commiting several massacres and inflicting untold suffering on villagers, women in particular. These atrocities have so far not received due condemnation or attention from the international community who almost remains silent on them.