UN leaders condemn ‘horrifying’ mass killings in Sudan | Sudan
Diplomats and senior UN figures speaking at the UN security council condemned mass killings by Rapid Support Forces in El Fasher after the Sudanese city “turned into an even darker hell” following the paramilitary group’s takeover at the weekend.
Widespread reports of ethnically targeted killings in recent days have prompted Britain, the UN’s pen in hand on Sudan, to call an emergency meeting of the security council in New York on Thursday.
“The situation is truly appalling,” UN Africa deputy secretary-general Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee told the meeting. “Last week, the UN human rights office documented widespread and serious human rights violations in and around El Fasher, including mass killings in various locations, extrajudicial killings during house searches and as civilians attempted to flee the city.
“Communications have been cut off. The situation is chaotic. It is difficult to estimate the number of civilians killed in this context. Despite commitments to protect civilians, the reality is that no one is safe in Al Fasher. There is no safe passage for civilians to leave the city.”
Pobee added: “Foreign support makes the conflict possible. Weapons and fighters continue to flow into Sudan, further contributing to an already desperate situation.”
“Already the scene of catastrophic levels of human suffering, Al Fasher has descended into an even darker hell,” Tom Fletcher, under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, told the meeting.
Fletcher condemned reports that nearly 500 people had been killed at a Saudi maternity hospital and said tens of thousands had fled to Tawila, where civilians, mostly women and children, faced extortion, violence and kidnapping.
The security council said in a statement that recent developments in Al Fasher had a devastating impact on the civilian population and that council members “condemned the atrocities reportedly committed by the RSF against the civilian population, including extrajudicial killings and arbitrary detentions.”
The UN session was likely to be disruptive for the United Arab Emirates, RSF’s main external supporter, but there were few diplomatic calls for the UN to recognize that it has a responsibility to protect people from deliberate genocide, rather than simply condemning violations of international humanitarian law.
In the UK, Foreign Secretary Stephen Doughty told MPs in the House of Commons: “Reports of mass atrocities against civilians and forced displacement caused by the RSF advance in El Fasher are both appalling and extremely worrying.”
Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Calum Miller called for a ban on all UK arms sales to the UAE until it can be proven that any previous exports were not transferred to Sudan for use by the RSF.
The Guardian reported on Tuesday that British military equipment used by the RSF had been found on battlefields in Sudan, according to documents seen by the UN Security Council.
Doughty acknowledged the presence of UK-made military equipment in Sudan but distinguished “items” from “weapons”, telling MPs: “We are aware of reports of a small number of UK-made items being found in Sudan, but there is no evidence in recent reports of UK-made weapons or ammunition being used in Sudan.”
The UAE has repeatedly denied allegations that it provides military support to the RSF.
Kate Ferguson, co-director of Protection Approaches, a UK charity working to tackle identity-based violence and mass atrocities, said: “We urgently need a coalition of conscience to promote an urgent global effort to protect civilians and end atrocities, and to show the UAE that the deliberate destruction of populations is not tolerated.
“The international community failed in the face of numerous warnings to fulfill their collective responsibility to protect Al Fasher from genocide.”
Human Rights Watch called for targeted sanctions on the UAE leadership, while US Democratic senator Chris Van Hollen called on his fellow senators to pass the bill banning US arms sales to the UAE.
Last month, the Quartet, an external group made up of the United States, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the UAE responsible for overseeing diplomacy surrounding the conflict, outlined a road map for peace, but it has not been implemented.
It called for an initial three-month humanitarian ceasefire so that aid could be delivered quickly, followed by a permanent ceasefire, culminating in a nine-month transition period that would lead to “an independent, civilian-led government with broad-based legitimacy and accountability.”
