The world’s worst humanitarian crisis is unfolding in Sudan - we must not look away (UK FM Cooper)

"Today we are announcing that the UK will jointly convene with Germany a major international conference on Sudan in Berlin in April, as we mark the third anniversary of this devastating conflict. And the UK will use its voice and Presidency of the United Nations Security Council next month, to prevent Sudan again slipping down the international agenda." - Yvette Cooper, UK Foreign Secretary. Read more.

From The Independent.co.uk

Editorial by Yvette Cooper, UK Foreign Secretary

Published Friday 09 January 2026 10:00 GMT - full copy:

The world’s worst humanitarian crisis is unfolding in Sudan - we must not look away

As the conflict in Sudan passes the grim milestone of 1,000 days, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper writes that the same diplomatic energy that helped end the war in Gaza is needed to end the crisis

South Sudan's worsening water crisis [VIDEO]

The world is catastrophically failing the people of Sudan. Today marks a grim milestone – 1,000 days of devastating violent conflict involving unimaginable atrocities, millions pushed into famine, and the most barbaric abuse of Sudan’s women.

The scale of the humanitarian crisis happening now is greater than any in the 21st century and the security consequences are likely to be felt far beyond Sudan for many years to come.

The world must not look away from the conflict between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces that is terrorising Sudan. I am determined we shine a searing spotlight on the unfolding atrocities and make 2026 the year the world comes together to drive urgent new momentum towards peace.

Last month, I listened as Sudanese civilians and community workers from their Emergency Response Rooms recounted the horrific human cost of the RSF’s October capture of the town of El Fasher after a grinding 18-month siege – including ethnically motivated mass killings and use of rape and starvation as weapons of war.

These stories on the ground corroborated the satellite images from space – images of blood-soaked earth and mass graves that all too briefly jolted the world’s attention.

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper (Reuters)

Aid workers in Tawila gave me a virtual tour of the makeshift camps where hundreds of distressed children arrived having made a 46-mile journey from El Fasher on foot. Traumatised women and children are scraping an existence with scant rations under thornbush shelters.

International Rescue Committee (IRC) staff recounted their struggle to support unprecedented numbers of victims of sexual violence in what they described as a war on women’s bodies. As shocking as what I saw was what I did not see – boys or men. Fathers, husbands and brothers missing, likely killed, following forced separation from their families.

Over 30 million people still need lifesaving aid. Famine is spreading. Infrastructure has collapsed. Preventable diseases are rampant. The conflict is escalating and spreading in the Kordofan region. 

The RSF have been accused of war crimes (File picture). 

Rapid Support Forces

For the leaders of Sudan’s warring parties to refuse to halt the war or to prevent massacres and atrocities on this scale is horrendous. For so many soldiers to be systematically raping Sudanese women is barbaric.

The case for action is deeply moral. But it is also about our wider security. Wars that rage unresolved radiate instability. They undermine the security of neighbouring states, they become easy targets for extremist groups to exploit. And they lead migrants to embark on dangerous international journeys.

Sudan’s war goes far beyond Sudan. It is regionalised and globalised. It poses a global test of our ability to mobilise the agile alliances, partnerships and multilateral weight to get a breakthrough.

Words of international concern or outrage are not enough. We need a concerted diplomatic drive to arrest the spiralling violence and suffering.

Sudanese residents gather to receive free meals in Al Fasher 

(AFP via Getty Images)

The US have been working to get a truce and wider plan in place – drawing together the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt (the ‘Quad’). That is why last month in Washington I held talks with Secretary Rubio and the President’s senior advisor on Africa and I have repeatedly engaged Quad members on ways forward.

But we need the same international focus and energy now from right across the world that we had around securing the Gaza ceasefire.

Today we are announcing that the UK will jointly convene with Germany a major international conference on Sudan in Berlin in April, as we mark the third anniversary of this devastating conflict. And the UK will use its voice and Presidency of the United Nations Security Council next month, to prevent Sudan again slipping down the international agenda.

At the heart of international efforts must be pursuing the humanitarian truce and a push for a permanent end to hostilities. This can only come through greater pressure on the warring parties – crucially from their regional backers.

Second, we have to prevent further atrocities by either side. This means working to raise the cost of committing or backing further massacres. On 12 December, the UK sanctioned senior RSF commanders, including the so-called “Butcher of El Fasher” who has openly boasted on social media of murdering Sudanese civilians.

Sudanese who fled el-Fasher city crowd to receive food at their camp in Tawila (AP)

And we are working to combat impunity and hold perpetrators to account. In November, UK leadership at the UN Human Rights Council secured international agreement to an urgent UN inquiry into crimes in El Fasher. We are supporting vital investigations by the International Criminal Court.

Third, unimpeded aid needs to reach populations in need. The UK has provided an additional £21 million for food, shelter, health services and protection of women and children in hardest to reach areas. This brings our total support to £146 million this financial year.

But for aid to save more lives, the belligerents must lift their deliberate and systematic barriers to humanitarian access.

Ultimately, no amount of aid can resolve a crisis of this magnitude until the guns fall silent. It must be the Sudanese people, not any warring group, that determine Sudan’s future.

The world must now come together around this cause – to stem the bloodshed and help set Sudan on a path to peace.

View original: https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/sudan-war-humanitarian-crisis-yvette-cooper-b2897125.html

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Thousands fled Sudan to safety in S. Sudan, scenes at Joda border chaotic with arrivals from Madani, Sudan

As we enter #Christmas weekend yet again thousands are fleeing #SudanConflict to seek safety in 🇸🇸
The scenes at Joda border are chaotic with arrivals from #Madani
Humanitarian partners again working against & around the clock
Only solution: the fighting must stop now pic.twitter.com/0ECKUIdvef

— Marie-Helene Verney (@MarieHVerney) December 22, 2023

ENDS

UK has a key role to play in fighting for peace in Sudan

RIGHT NOW IN SUDAN, over five million people have been displaced and many thousands killed. Twenty-four million people – half the population – need humanitarian assistance, 15 million suffer from acute food insecurity and 19 million children are out of school. Recent analysis has shown that at least 68 villages in Darfur have been burnt to the ground by armed militia in the past few months.  The UK's APPG hopes that more can be done to stop the flow of arms to warring parties by putting greater pressure on their regional backers, enforcing the existing UN arms embargo on Darfur and extending it to the entire country. Read more in the following article.

From Politics Home, UK

By Vicky Ford MP @vickyford

Dated Thursday, 9 November 2023 - here is a copy in full:

The UK has a key role to play in fighting for peace in Sudan

Wreckage in Khartoum (Credit: Associated Press / Alamy Stock Photo)

October marked six months since the beginning of the war in Sudan and two years since the military coup that first dashed hopes of Sudan’s swift road to democracy. There is no clear winner and no end in sight.

Over five million people have been displaced and many thousands killed. Twenty-four million people – half the population – need humanitarian assistance, 15 million suffer from acute food insecurity and 19 million children are out of school. Of the $2.6bn required for humanitarian assistance, only $859m is available. 

Members of the [UK Govt] All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Sudan and South Sudan met with Liela Musa Medani, a Sudanese woman who has previously lived in the United Kingdom for over 20 years. She escaped from Khartoum in July but remains in touch with family members. Of the 50 households that used to live in her street, only four remain. 

For the past six months, they have faced killings and artillery shelling every single day. There is no food, and anyone who tries to transport food risks their life. There is no electricity, no water, no medicine and no humanitarian aid. The few people left in that once mighty city cannot leave. School buildings are now cemeteries. Girls have learned to disfigure themselves to try to avoid being raped.

Ethnic cleansing has returned to Darfur. Twenty years ago, during the genocide, between 300,000 and 400,000 people were killed, either directly in the conflict or indirectly. Recent analysis has shown that at least 68 villages in Darfur have been burnt to the ground by armed militia in the past few months.  

Since the war began, many of those forced to leave their homes have fled towards Chad and South Sudan. Over 320,000 Sudanese have crossed the border into Egypt, while many others are still stranded at the borders.

The UK has a key role to play due to our close historical relations with Sudan, the trust many Sudanese people still place in us and our role as a penholder in the United Nations Security Council. The significant Sudanese diaspora community in the UK includes NHS doctors. 

The UK has sanctioned some of the financial networks of the warring parties, sponsored a resolution at the UN Human Rights Council establishing an independent Commission of Enquiry to investigate alleged human rights violations and provided diplomatic and practical support to help pro-democracy civilians cohere around a common platform.

The UK should continue to press for an immediate ceasefire to facilitate humanitarian access, scale up life-saving support and support better co-ordination between different regional and international mediation initiatives. 

The APPG hopes that more can be done to stop the flow of arms to warring parties by putting greater pressure on their regional backers, enforcing the existing UN arms embargo on Darfur and extending it to the entire country. Targeted sanctions should also be extended to old regime loyalists who are calling for the continuation of the war.   

There are two potentially encouraging developments. The Jeddah talks, suspended since June, have resumed and Sudanese civilian leaders have met in Addis Ababa aiming to build a united Democratic Civilian Front to end the war, deliver vital humanitarian assistance and secure a path to democratic government. This may create momentum for further unification of democratic civilian voices. Nevertheless, the prospects for ending the war remain very uncertain.  

It is in the UK’s strategic interest to try to prevent the spread of terrorism, increased migration and the destabilisation of the wider region. Therefore it remains important that the UK continues to play an active diplomatic role and try to find a path to peace.

Vicky Ford, Conservative MP for Chelmsford, former minister for Africa and chair of the APPG for Sudan and South Sudan

View original: https://www.politicshome.com/thehouse/article/uk-key-role-play-fighting-peace-sudan

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UK is sending Darfur Sudan war crimes evidence to UN Security Council, UN Human Rights Council & ICC

UK is penholder on Sudan file at UN Security Council. The ICC launched a new investigation into alleged war crimes in Sudan in July with ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan saying “we are in the midst of a human catastrophe”.

Read more in a report at the Guardian

By Patrick Wintour Diplomatic Editor
Dated Tue 22 Aug 2023 17.25 BST; Last modified 17.59 BST - full copy:

War crimes being committed in Darfur, says UK minister Andrew Mitchell

Africa minister says civilian death toll horrific and UK is to send evidence to UN

Sudanese people fleeing the conflict in Darfur cross the border between Sudan and Chad in Adre. Photograph: Zohra Bensemra/Reuters

War crimes and atrocities against civilians are being committed in Darfur, western Sudan, the UK’s Africa minister Andrew Mitchell said on Tuesday, becoming one of the first western officials to identify that the fighting in Sudan has developed into more than a power struggle between two rival factions.

Mitchell said there was growing evidence of serious atrocities being committed, describing the civilian death toll as horrific in a statement released by the Foreign Office. “Reports of deliberate targeting and mass displacement of the Masalit community in Darfur are particularly shocking and abhorrent. Intentional directing of attacks at the civilian population is a war crime.”

He added the UK would do all it could to assemble credible evidence to present to the UN security council, the UN Human Rights Council and the international criminal court.

There had been an expectation that the US would have explicitly joined the UK in making a formal atrocity determination, but so far the State Department has held off, partly because the US does not want to jeopardise talks in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, designed to end the civil war between Sudanese Armed Forces and the independent Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Observers claim the larger power struggle that broke out in April, with fighting in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, has provided cover for RSF allied forces to undertake ethnic cleansing in west Darfur, reviving memories of the genocide committed in Darfur 20 years ago.

The attacks on the Masalit and other ethnic communities are led by the Janjaweed militias allied with the RSF. The RSF is commanded by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo.

More than 300,000 Sudanese nationals have crossed the border into neighbouring Chad since the conflict broke out, according to the UN’s migratory agency.

Africa minister Andrew Mitchell is one of the first western officials to identify that the fighting in Sudan is more than a struggle between two factions. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Kate Ferguson, co-executive director of the human rights NGO Protection Approaches, welcomed Mitchell’s statement saying: “He is absolutely right to condemn not only the armed conflict between the SAF and RSF which is devastating Sudan but also to highlight the deliberate targeting and mass displacement of non-Arab communities in Darfur.

“These two related but distinct trajectories of violence require related but distinct solutions; this reality must be a cornerstone for the UK government and the entire international system in the pursuit of peace in Sudan.

The Saudi peace talks rely on progress being made between different bad faith actors over which Riyadh seems to have little leverage. Others say the true external players in Sudan are Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, which are closely linked to the SAF and RSF respectively.

The ICC launched a new investigation into alleged war crimes in Sudan in July with ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan saying “we are in the midst of a human catastrophe”.

The UK has imposed sanctions on businesses linked to the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces in an effort to register its disapproval.

View original: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/22/war-crimes-being-committed-in-darfur-says-uk-minister-andrew-mitchell

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UN blames Sudan's RSF over 'mass grave' in Darfur

Report at Reuters.com
By Emma Farge and Khalid Abdelaziz
Published Thursday 13 July 2023; 3:58 PM GMT+1 - here is a full copy:

At least 87 buried in Sudan mass grave, including women, children, UN says

Summary

- Victims buried in shallow grave near El Geneina

- Paramilitary force RSF denies any involvement

- Women and children among the dead, UN says

- Darfur violence recalls 'Janjaweed' killings of 2000s

GENEVA, July 13 (Reuters) - The U.N. human rights office said on Thursday at least 87 people including women and children had been buried in a mass grave in Sudan's West Darfur, saying it had credible information they were killed by the country's Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

RSF officials denied any involvement, saying the paramilitary group was not a party to the conflict in West Darfur.

Ethnically motivated bloodshed has escalated in recent weeks in step with fighting between rival military factions that erupted in April and has brought the country to the brink of civil war. In El Geneina, witnesses and rights groups have reported waves of attacks by the RSF and Arab militias against the non-Arab Masalit people, including shootings at close range.

"According to credible information gathered by the Office, those buried in the mass grave were killed by RSF and their allied militia around 13-21 June...," the U.N. statement said.

Local people were forced to dispose of the bodies including those of women and children in the shallow grave in an open area near the city between June 20-21, it added. Some of the people had died from untreated injuries, it said.

"I condemn in the strongest terms the killing of civilians and hors de combat individuals, and I am further appalled by the callous and disrespectful way the dead, along with their families and communities, were treated," said U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk in the same statement, calling for an investigation.

Sudanese people, who fled the violence in their country and newly arrived, wait to be registered at the camp near the border between Sudan and Chad in Adre, Chad April 26, 2023. REUTERS/Mahamat Ramadane/File Photo

An RSF senior official who declined to be identified said it "completely denies any connection to the events in West Darfur as we are not party to it, and we did not get involved in a conflict as the conflict is a tribal one."

Another RSF source said it was being accused due to political motivations from the Masalit and others. He reiterated that the group was ready to participate in an investigation and to hand over any of its forces found to have broken the law.

It was not possible to determine exactly what portion of the dead were Masalits, a U.N. spokesperson added.

The ethnic killings have raised fears of a repeat of the atrocities perpetuated in Darfur after 2003, when "Janjaweed" militias from which the RSF was formed helped the government crush a rebellion by mainly non-Arab groups in Darfur, killing some [SW Ed: allegedly] 300,000 people. Sudanese civilians have fled the area on foot, some having been killed or shot as they escaped.

"This report is a good first step, but more efforts are needed to uncover more violations," said Ibrahim, a refugee in neighbouring Chad, who asked to withhold his last name for fear of retribution.

Army spokesperson Brigadier General Nabil Abdullah told Reuters the incident "rises to the level of war crimes and these kinds of crimes should not pass without accountability."

"This rebel militia is not against the army but against the Sudanese citizen, and its project is a racist project and a project of ethnic cleansing," he said.

Play Video: Report from Khartoum, Sudan

(Reporting by Emma Farge in Geneva and Khalid Abdelaziz in Dubai; Additional reporting by Nafisa Eltahir in Cairo; Editing by Rachel More and William Maclean)

View original and video:  https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/least-87-buried-mass-grave-sudans-west-darfur-un-2023-07-13

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