US: Warring Factions in Sudan Committed War Crimes

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Facts

  • Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced on Wednesday that the US has officially concluded that the warring parties in Sudan have committed war crimes, as he urged the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to stop the violence that erupted in April.1
  • According to Blinken's statement, the US also found that the RSF and their affiliated militias were responsible for crimes against humanity and the ethnic cleansing of Masalit civilians — a non-Arab group — in West Darfur, while it cautioned that the SAF's strikes on RSF-controlled residential areas could be in breach of international law.1
  • This follows a State Department investigation that included extensive reports of sexual violence against women and girls in the country at the hands of the RSF.2
  • Although the declaration doesn't include penalties on the leaders or members of either side, the US has already imposed numerous sanctions and hasn't ruled out further measures.3
  • Tensions between the military, under the direction of General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Force, under the command of Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, turned into open combat in April over a failed plan to merge forces and transition from military rule to civilian democracy.4
  • As of October, Sudan's civil war is estimated by the UN to have killed up to 9K people. However, human rights activists and medical associations estimate that the true number of casualties is much higher. 3

Sources: 1Reuters, 2United States Department of State, 3PBS NewsHour and 4France 24.

Narratives

  • Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Associated Press. There has to be an end to the civil conflict in Sudan. Secretary Blinken is right about that. The crimes committed against the civilian population have gone unchecked for too long, and there is a great chance that the fighting will expand into nearby nations. Should that occur, it would be a surefire way to unleash a massive human tragedy that would result in a protracted war and a human catastrophe for millions of people.
  • Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Amnesty International. While Washington is right to call out the atrocities being committed in Sudan, it has so far failed to acknowledge the Western meddling that undoubtedly played a role in the conflict. Western governments so 'kindly' offering humanitarian aid today and condemning the violence are the same ones who toyed with Sudan for decades solely to steal its resources and combat China's rise in the region.