US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has called for international action to cut off the supply of weapons to Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), who are accused of mass killings in el-Fasher.
At the end of a G7 foreign ministers meeting in Canada, Rubio said the RSF had committed systematic atrocities, including murder, rape and sexual violence against civilians.
Sudan’s army accuses the United Arab Emirates of propping up the RSF with weapons and mercenaries sent via African nations. The UAE has repeatedly denied these allegations.
The RSF has been fighting the Sudanese army since April 2023, when a power struggle between their leaders erupted into all-out civil war.
Rubio’s comments are some of the most outspoken so far by the Trump administration about the war in Sudan and the actions of the RSF, but it is not clear how much impact they will have.
A previous US-backed proposal for a humanitarian ceasefire in Sudan has already been violated by the RSF, even though they agreed to it last week.
El-Fasher was captured last month by the RSF after an 18-month siege, meaning they now control all of the cities in the vast western Darfur region.
Only a small fraction of the population has managed to flee the city, where massacres are said to have take taken place. Piles of bodies on the ground and blood-stained earth are visible from space in satellite imagery.
Non-Arab groups in the wider Darfur region are being systematically targeted by the RSF in what amounts to genocide, according to the US and humanitarian groups.
Credit: bbc.com
