UN warns of ‘darker hell’ as RSF captures El Fasher

On Thursday, the UN’s top humanitarian official, Tom Fletcher, briefed ambassadors at the Security Council on the “darker hell” in which El Fasher had descended.

“Women and girls are being raped, people are being maimed and killed – with complete impunity,” he said, detailing reports permeating the telecommunications blackout that engulfed the war-torn country. “We can’t hear the screams, but as we sit here today, the horror continues.”

In the shadow of Sudan’s misery, US President Donald Trump has done conspicuously little. He insists that he is the world’s greatest peacemaker and, in some cases, claims credit for resolving conflicts that still persist or never existed. But ending the world’s worst humanitarian disaster has not been a priority for his administration.

The White House was more focused on gutting USAID, an agency that supports critical elements of the humanitarian complex that helps the Sudanese people. He also wants to speed up the deportation of unwanted immigrants to neighboring South Sudan, which is also in the grip of an unfolding civil war.

There is no simple solution to ending the war in Sudan. The two rival forces – the Sudanese army under the country’s chief of staff, General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and Hemedti’s RSF – are entrenched in their own fiefdoms and supported by a number of foreign powers.

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While the former relied on aid from countries such as Egypt and Iran, the RSF, which lost its foothold in the capital Khartoum in March, was strengthened by arms shipments from the United Arab Emirates. Türkiye, Russia and even Ukraine played a role in the supply of warring parties. Saudi Arabia and Qatar also have broad interests in the region.

RSF fighters also promoted British-made small arms, among other supplies, which were likely first exported to the UAE, according to documents seen at the UN Security Council.

A recently published report Wall Street Magazine He cited US intelligence agencies’ assessment that the UAE had also sent advanced weapons such as Chinese drones to boost the declining fortunes of the RSF, which appeared to be on the verge of losing the war after withdrawing from Khartoum. It now stands on more solid ground. It still controls most of Sudan’s gold mines, and its ore often goes to markets in Dubai.

The UAE denies any role in supporting the RSF’s military campaign.

“If it weren’t for the UAE, the war would be over,” said Cameron Hudson, former chief of staff to successive US presidential special envoys to Sudan. Daily. “The only thing holding back [the RSF] “They have a huge amount of military support from the UAE in this war.”

Many analysts believe Trump could do more to lean on the UAE, the monarchy with which he has many close connections.

After the relative silence, lawmakers in Congress are also starting to speak. Sen. James Risch, a Republican from Idaho and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called on the United States to formally designate RSF as a foreign terrorist organization.

“The horrors at El Fasher in Darfur were no coincidence; they were RSF’s plan from the beginning,” he said on Tuesday. “RSF practiced terror and committed unspeakable atrocities, including genocide, against the Sudanese people.”

Risch’s Democratic counterpart on the committee, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, pointed the finger at the United States’ Gulf ally. “The UAE has been an irresponsible player that has contributed to one of the worst humanitarian crises we have on the planet right now,” he told reporters on Wednesday. he said.

There is little hope of a Trump-style deal in Sudan. “The United States is not a hegemon here, but a secondary player in a crowded field of assertive middle powers,” said Sudanese analyst Elfadil Ibrahim, arguing that ending the war would require “sustained engagement and…a willingness to apply real pressure on external patrons, as well as a long-term commitment to supporting a truly inclusive political process.”

Such an effort is unlikely for a White House that loves quick deals and photo opportunities. And so the tragedy continues to unfold, claiming the lives of more than 150,000 people and displacing millions.

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“The Sudan crisis is, at its core, a failure of protection and our responsibility to uphold international law,” U.N. official Fletcher said Thursday. “Atrocities are committed with a shameless expectation of impunity… the world has failed an entire generation.”

Washington Post

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