Sudanese official calls for global action against paramilitaries
A Sudanese official has called on the international community to formally proscribe the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) as a terrorist organisation, according to Africanews via AP on November 3rd.
In a powerful statement released on November 2nd, Sudan’s ambassador to Egypt, Imadeldin Mustafa Adawi, denounced the RSF for alleged war crimes. He urged “immediate and effective action” by international actors beyond mere expressions of condemnation.
He made it clear that the Sudanese government would not engage in any negotiations with the RSF, which he stated engages in “terrorism against civilians.”
The remarks follow a series of brutal massacres, including the execution of 460 hospital patients, by paramilitary combatants in North Darfur’s capital city of El-Fasher, which was captured by the RSF on October 26th.
El-Fasher has been under an RSF-imposed siege since May 2024 as part of a now successful campaign to flush out the final remnants of the Sudanese military in the Darfur region. The paramilitary group has been at war with the army since April 2023 after a power struggle turned violent.
The conflict has since killed at least 40,000 people and has displaced a further 12 million. Moreover, 26 million of the nation’s 50 million inhabitants are facing acute hunger and malnutrition.
Adawi also repeated widespread allegations that the United Arab Emirates is supplying the paramilitary group with weaponry, despite the RSF being accused of committing genocide against indigenous African tribes in Sudan.
The UAE has persistently denied that it has any ties with the group. However, various reports and evidence provided by UN investigators suggest that the Emirates is providing extensive financial and logistical support to the RSF through military and intelligence bases located across the Red Sea and Horn of Africa.
Since the capture of El-Fasher, the RSF’s atrocities have garnered widespread international outrage, drawing considerable attention to the UAE’s potential complicity in the crimes. After suffering such a heavy blow to its reputation, Abu Dhabi has displayed the first modicum of remorse over its involvement in Sudan.
According to The Guardian on November 4th, Senior Emirati diplomat Anwar Gargash expressed regret over the decision not to impose sanctions on the perpetrators of the 2021 coup in Sudan, which was led jointly by the RSF and the military.
He lamented that “we all made a mistake when the two generals who are fighting the civil war today overthrew the civilian government. That was, looking back, a critical mistake. We should have put our foot down collectively. We did not call it a coup.”
Africanews via AP, Maghrebi.org, The Guardian
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