The brutal war the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia has been waging against the Sudanese people for the past 15 months, and the unprecedented atrocities it committed in the process, have so far received an inadequate response from the international community.
True, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 2736, adopted on June 13, 2024, which demands the RSF halt its siege of el-Fasher in North Darfur region and end fighting in the area, is significant. However, it falls short of unequivocally condemning the militia for its crimes.
According to a panel of independent experts assigned by the UNSC, between April and December 2023, the RSF and its affiliated militias were responsible for the deaths of 10,000 to 15,000 civilians in West Darfur. The US State Department further determined in December 2023 that the RSF committed war crimes, crimes against humanity and acts of ethnic cleansing. A bipartisan draft resolution in the US Congress also recognised these actions as acts of genocide. On June 5, 2024, another carnage took place in Wad-al-Nora village, al-Gazira state. Around 270 villagers were slaughtered.
Despite global outrage over these crimes, the international community’s response to them appeared to be slow and insufficient, amounting to apathy.
The result is continued ethnic cleansing and killings by the militia in different parts of the country. The latest UN resolution and international condemnations essentially call for the RSF to behave itself. This soft approach mistakenly assumes the militia possesses a level of morality, legitimacy or discipline. It has none. The RSF’s response to the UNSC resolution – a........