United States supplying Sudan’s armed groups with weapons ‘enables genocide,’ says UN official

UNITED NATIONS (AP) – The UN’s top diplomat accused backers of Sudan’s warring militias and militias on Tuesday of “perpetrating a massacre” that has killed more than 24,000 people and fueled the world’s worst displacement crisis.

“This is absurd,” Rosemary DiCarlo told the UN Security Council. “It’s illegal, and it has to stop.”

He did not name the countries that fund and provide weapons to the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces, but said they are responsible for pressuring both sides to work towards a negotiated settlement of the conflict.

Sudan plunged into conflict in mid-April 2023, when a long-running conflict between its military leaders and the military in the capital, Khartoum, spread to other regions, including western Darfur, which was devastated by bloodshed and brutality in 2003. The UN has recently warned that the country has been pushed to the brink of famine.

Last month, the RSF attacked in Gezira province, attacking towns and villages, killing scores of people and raping women and girls, according to the UN and local groups.

DiCarlo told the council that non-governmental organizations said the attack marked “some of the most extreme violence in the last 18 months.”

He strongly condemned the ongoing attacks by the RSF on civilians and said that the UN is also “surprised by the attacks on civilians carried out by the armed forces of the Sudan Armed Forces in the area of ​​Khartoum.”

DiCarlo said it was long overdue for the opposing forces to come to the negotiating table, but he said both sides seemed confident they could win on the battlefield, and this was fueled by foreign support and weapons.

“As the end of the rainy season approaches, the groups continue to expand their war, recruit new soldiers and intensify their attacks,” he said. “This is possible because of the massive support from outside, including the continuous flow of weapons into the country.”

Sudan has accused the United Arab Emirates of arming the RSF, which the UAE has categorically denied. The RSF reportedly also received support from the Russian military group Wagner. And UN experts said in a report earlier this year that the RSF has gained support from Arab-allied communities and new military supply lines through Chad, Libya and South Sudan.

Regarding the government, Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, who led the military takeover of Sudan in 2021, is a close friend of neighboring Egypt and its president, former military chief Adel-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.

DiCarlo called for increased international action to protect civilians and encourage dialogue.

He said the UN’s special envoy to Sudan, Ramtane Lamamra, was “considering the next phase of his engagement with the warring parties, including another round of ‘proximity talks’ focused on commitments related to the protection of civilians.”

Sudan’s military boycotted rapprochement talks in Geneva, Switzerland, in July aimed at promoting humanitarian aid and starting peace talks despite international calls for it to take part. The RSF sent a delegation to Geneva.

DiCarlo said Lamamra will travel to Sudan and elsewhere in the region in the coming weeks to meet with key stakeholders to discuss a new negotiation effort.

Ramesh Rajasingham, director of coordination at the UN office, told the council the “appalling brutality” in Gezira and the fighting in West Darfur and North Darfur are causing many people to flee.

As of April 2023, more than 11 million people have fled their homes, and 3 million have crossed into neighboring countries, he said. Last month, 58,000 people from the two Darfur states crossed into neighboring Chad, which now has more than 710,000 refugees, he said.

Rajasingham said fighting continued to escalate in North Darfur’s capital, El Fasher – the only capital in Darfur not held by the RSF. In July, hunger experts confirmed the famine situation in the nearby Zamzam refugee camp.

Rajasingham said a recent nutrition assessment in the camp found about 34% of children malnourished including 10% severely malnourished.

“And now we are seeing worrying signs that the depth of food insecurity is spreading elsewhere, with reports in recent weeks of alarming levels of hunger in South Kordofan,” he said.

“I cannot stress enough how serious this situation is,” Rajasingham said, urging the international community to take immediate action.