US calls on the UN Security Council to take action to help end the nearly year-long conflict in Sudan between the army and the Rapid Support Forces.
US alleges war crimes by warring parties, with Rapid Support Forces and allied militias committing humanitarian crimes and ethnic cleansing.
UN estimates 25 million Sudanese, half the population, need aid, with about eight million displaced and hunger on the rise.
US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield urges urgent Council action to alleviate humanitarian suffering, hold perpetrators accountable, and end conflict in Sudan.
Since the war erupted in April 2023, the Council has only issued three statements condemning the war and expressing concern. The Council echoed this language in a December resolution closing a UN political mission at the request of the Sudanese Foreign Minister.
A UN sanctions monitors report reviewed by Reuters last month stated that between 10,000 and 15,000 people in one city alone in West Darfur were killed in ethnic violence by Rapid Support Forces and allied Arab militias.
Thomas-Greenfield, who visited a refugee camp near the Chad-Sudan border in September, expressed deep disappointment that the detailed allegations in the report received little attention either within or outside the UN.
Sudanese government recently blocked aid deliveries via Chad, effectively closing a vital supply route to the vast Darfur region controlled by competing Rapid Support Forces. Thomas-Greenfield described this move as “unacceptable” as it threatens a “critical lifeline.”
Reuters documented ethnic violence in West Darfur last year. Survivors described horrific scenes of bloodshed in Genena and along a 30-kilometer road from the city to the Chad border during people’s flight.
