By Enyichukwu Enemanna
The United States has called for international moves to cut off shipment of weapons to Sudan’s paramilitary group, Rapid Support Forces (RSF) arising from reports of mass killings in el-Fasher.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio who made the call at the end of a G7 foreign ministers meeting in Canada alleged that the RSF had committed systematic atrocities, including murder, rape and sexual violence against civilians.
The RSF has been fighting the Sudanese army since April 2023, when a power struggle between their leaders snowballed into a civil war.
Rubio told reporters: “They’re committing acts of sexual violence and atrocities, just horrifying atrocities, against women, children, innocent civilians of the most horrific kind. And it needs to end immediately.
“And we’re going to do everything we can to bring it to an end, and we’ve encouraged partner nations to join us in this fight.”
The Secretary of State rejected the paramilitary group’s attempt to blame the killings on rogue elements, saying this was false and the attacks were systematic.
El-Fasher was captured last month by the RSF after an 18-month siege, meaning they now control all of the cities in the western Darfur region.
In response to scale of atrocities in El-Flasher, Rubio said the US feared that thousands of people who had been expected to flee el-Fasher were either dead or too malnourished to move.
He said the RSF, which lacks its own arms manufacturing facilities, relied on outside support, and called for countries supplying weapons to stop.
The joint G7 statement also condemned surging violence in Sudan, saying the conflict between the army and the RSF had triggered “the world’s largest humanitarian crisis”.
