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U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has urged international intervention to halt the flow of weapons to Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which face accusations of carrying out mass killings in El Fasher.
Following a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Canada, Rubio stated that the RSF has engaged in systematic atrocities, including murder, rape, and sexual violence against civilians.
The Sudanese army alleges that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) supports the RSF by providing weapons and mercenaries through African nations. Both the UAE and the RSF have consistently denied these allegations.
The RSF has been in conflict with the Sudanese army since April 2023, when a power struggle between their leaders escalated into a full-scale civil war.
Rubio’s remarks represent some of the strongest statements made by the Trump administration to date regarding the conflict in Sudan and the actions of the RSF, though their potential impact remains uncertain.
A previous U.S.-backed proposal for a humanitarian ceasefire in Sudan has already been violated by the RSF, despite their agreement to it last week.
El Fasher was captured by the RSF last month after an 18-month siege, giving them control over all cities in the extensive western Darfur region.
Only a small portion of the population has managed to escape the city, where massacres are reported to have occurred. Satellite imagery reveals piles of bodies and blood-stained ground, as visible from space.
According to the U.S. and humanitarian organizations, non-Arab groups in the broader Darfur region are being systematically targeted by the RSF in what amounts to genocide.
At the discussions near Niagara Falls on Wednesday, the top U.S. diplomat stated that women and children had been targeted in acts of the most horrific nature by the RSF in El Fasher.
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.”
However, Rubio stopped short of publicly criticizing Abu Dhabi, despite evidence presented in international media investigations, deemed credible by the UN, suggesting that the Gulf state is the RSF’s primary arms supplier.
The Trump administration is collaborating with the UAE, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia – allies of Sudan’s military-led government, collectively known as the “Quad” – to end the war.
“I don’t want to get into calling anybody out at a press conference today, because what we want is a good outcome here,” Rubio said on Wednesday, but added pointedly, “We know who the parties are that are involved [in weapons supply]… That’s why they’re part of the Quad along with other countries involved.”
In September, the Quad jointly proposed a three-month humanitarian truce, followed by a permanent ceasefire and a nine-month transition to civilian rule.
The RSF waited until it had captured El Fasher before announcing its agreement to the truce. Sudan’s army has expressed objections to the UAE’s presence in the Quad but will still consider the proposal.
In the meantime, the fighting continues unabated.
The Secretary of State dismissed the paramilitary group’s attempt to attribute the killings to rogue elements, stating that this was untrue and that the attacks were systematic.
When questioned by the BBC about his assessment of the likely scale of atrocities, he said the U.S. feared that thousands of people who had been expected to flee El Fasher were either dead or too malnourished to move.
He stated that the RSF, lacking its own arms manufacturing facilities, relied on external support, and he called for countries supplying weapons to cease doing so.
In response, the RSF issued a lengthy statement denouncing what it termed “all biased statements against them.”
The paramilitary group reiterated its denials of receiving support from external parties and rejected attempts to scapegoat it in order to conceal the army’s rejection of the truce.
“The party that has rejected all ceasefire initiatives and refused to engage in them is the army affiliated with the terrorist Islamic Movement,” it said, “while our forces responded in good faith officially announcing their approval. Yet to this day we have not received any reply from the US side. So, where is the other party and where is its response?”
The joint G7 statement also condemned escalating violence in Sudan, stating that the conflict between the army and the RSF had triggered “the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.”
To date, more than 150,000 people have been killed, and approximately 12 million have been forced to flee their homes.
Various experts have analyzed the flow of weapons into the country during this two-year-long civil war.
Amnesty International reports finding evidence of weapons manufactured in Serbia, Russia, China, Turkey, Yemen, and the UAE being used in Sudan.
The smuggling route often involves transit through the UAE to Chad, and then into Darfur, according to a leaked report by UN experts.
The UAE is specifically accused of providing arms and support to the RSF, who, in turn, are accused of using the UAE as a marketplace for illicit gold sales.
On Wednesday, Rubio pointedly stated that assistance to the RSF “isn’t just coming from some country that’s paying for it – it’s also coming from countries that are allowing their territory to be used to ship it and transport it.”
He also stated that he did not want to “diminish” the involvement of other actors in the conflict, saying, “that includes potentially the Iranians, at least money and weapons being flown into the other side,” referring to the Sudanese army.
All parties deny these allegations.
A fortnight ago, the UK government faced criticism from its own lawmakers following allegations that British-made weapons were ending up in the hands of the RSF, who were using them to commit atrocities.
In response to one MP’s demand to “end all arms shipments to the UAE until it is proved that the UAE is not arming the RSF,” Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper stated at the time, “The UK has extremely strong controls on arms exports, including to prevent any diversion. We will continue to take that immensely seriously.”
A UN arms embargo has been in place on the RSF’s stronghold of Darfur since 2004, but it has not been extended to the rest of the country despite calls from human rights groups.
Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.
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