Sudan: Urgent Action must be taken to prevent the risk of another genocide

23 November: PEN International urges the leaderships of the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to heed national, regional, and international calls for a cessation of hostilities and an end to the senseless war that has gone on since April 2023. PEN International calls upon SAF’s General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF’s Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo to exercise their command responsibility to urgently stop the targeting of civilians and sexual violence against women and girls by their armed forces. Now, more than ever regional and international mechanisms must act with speed to prevent another genocide in Sudan, particularly in the Darfur region.  

For seven months, the war in Sudan has continued to inflict untold suffering on civilians. An estimated 9000 people have been killed and an estimated 7 million displaced in the war that the UN has described as ‘a convergence of worsening humanitarian calamities and a catastrophic human rights crisis’. 

Despite commitments made by the warring parties to protect civilians and uphold international human rights and humanitarian law, credible reports continue to emerge that implicate both SAF and RSF fighters for targeting civilians. Since the signing of the Jeddah Declaration by SAF and RSF in May 2023 and subsequent repeat pledges in which both parties made commitments to protect civilians and uphold international human rights and humanitarian law, armed forces of the two parties have continued to renege on their pledges, including on planned humanitarian ceasefire and protection of civilians.

‘All efforts by regional and international actors must be pursued with renewed urgency to end the horrific suffering of Sudanese civilians, and to pave the way for peace, justice, and accountability for perpetrators of human rights violations in the context of the conflict. These efforts must be guided by the hopes and aspirations of the Sudanese people for a return to civilian democratic governance, the rule of law, and respect for human rights, including the right to live in peace,’ said Romana Cacchioli, Executive Director of PEN International.

PEN International is concerned about new reports of an escalation in fighting in the Darfur region where RSF fighters have reportedly engaged in systematic acts of torture, extortion and targeting of specific ethnic groups for mass killings. The UN has expressed fear of a possible new genocide in Sudan reminiscent of the one carried out in the early 2000s by the Janjaweed militia (which later morphed into the paramilitary RSF) on behalf of then dictator Omar al-Bashir. Throughout the war, monitoring reports have found both the SAF and the RSF responsible for widespread sexual violence against women and girls, with the RSF particularly singled out for systematic rape and SAF soldiers for sexual harassment.

These atrocities continue to take place under a near-total information and communication blackout due to destruction of telecommunications infrastructure, persistent threats and attacks on journalists and preventing media workers and human rights defenders from doing their work of monitoring, documenting and reporting incidents freely. Reports by campaign groups, as well as testimonies from those fleeing conflict zones have accused both SAF and RSF combatants of targeting civilians, including through indiscriminate bombardment, abductions and extrajudicial killings, razing down of shelters at camps for internally displaced people, and preventing movement of those fleeing the violence. PEN International condemns both factions in the war for these horrific violations, which amount to war crimes under international human rights law.

PEN International believes that only a non-violent resolution of the Sudan conflict can guarantee a lasting and just peace for the people of Sudan. Decades of destruction of the lives, livelihoods, and wellbeing of civilians by armed conflict and military dictatorship and paramilitary violence must stop.

PEN International reiterates its earlier statement that a sustainable resolution of the power struggle between the SAF and the RSF can only be achieved through a comprehensive framework for the resumption and completion of Sudan’s transition to civilian and democratic governance, which was dashed by the October 2021 SAF-RSF military coup.

While commending ongoing efforts by the African Union, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the United Nations and other mechanisms to broker a settlement in the Sudan conflict, PEN International urges for a more coordinated approach that puts at its centre the voices and meaningful participation of the Sudanese people and their civic associations.

PEN International continues to call on the SAF and RSF leaderships to exercise their command responsibility and implement a permanent cessation of hostilities between the two fighting forces and other armed groups affiliated to them. All parties to the conflict must commit themselves to a peaceful urgent resolution of the conflict that puts the needs and human rights of the people of Sudan first.

Read PEN International’s 17 May 2023 statement on the Sudan armed conflict for background information here.

For further information, please contact Nduko o’Matigere, Head of Africa Region at PEN International, on email nduko.omatigere@pen-international.org