September 18 (EUROPA PRESS) –
US President Joe Biden on Tuesday urged the Sudanese Army and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to “withdraw their forces” from the battlefront to facilitate “unhindered” access for humanitarian aid and to resume peace negotiations for a conflict that began in April 2023 and has left the country mired in one of the largest humanitarian crises in the world.
“For more than 17 long months, the Sudanese people have endured a senseless war that has created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. Nearly 10 million people have been displaced by this conflict. Women and girls have been abducted and sexually assaulted. Famine has gripped Darfur and threatens millions of people elsewhere,” Biden said in a statement shared by the White House.
In this regard, the US Treasury Department has held the RSF and the Army responsible for this type of war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing during the conflict, which is why it has sanctioned 16 entities and individuals related to this conflict.
“And today, a violent history is repeating itself. The town of El Fasher in Darfur, home to nearly two million people and hundreds of thousands of displaced people, has been under siege for months by the Rapid Support Forces. That siege has escalated into a full-blown attack in recent days. (…) The RSF must stop its attack, which is disproportionately harming Sudanese civilians. The RSF must stop the indiscriminate shelling that is destroying civilian lives and infrastructure,” he added.
Despite acknowledging that both sides have taken “some measures” to improve access to humanitarian aid, he also accused them of continuing to delay and hinder these types of operations aimed at “saving lives.”
The US president recalled that Washington has been pushing for peace and demanding accountability “from the beginning” of the war, and stressed that it is the country that has sent the most assistance to Sudan with more than 1.6 billion dollars (about 1.43 billion euros) for emergency assistance in the last two years.
He also highlighted the efforts of the United States to “bring together international partners, end hostilities, protect civilians, expand humanitarian access and give voice to civil society,” especially after the summit held in August in Switzerland, which was attended by “influential partners” such as the African Union, the UN, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates, who have achieved “the opening of new routes to Darfur and Khartoum” to deliver “desperately” needed aid and permission to access some airstrips.
“Let us be clear: the United States will not abandon our commitment to the people of Sudan, who deserve freedom, peace, and justice. We call on all parties to this conflict to end this violence and refrain from fuelling it, for the future of Sudan and all Sudanese people,” Biden concluded.
Sudan is in the throes of a civil war following hostilities that broke out in April 2023 amid heightened tensions over the integration of the RSF paramilitaries into the armed forces, a key part of an agreement signed in December to form a new civilian government and revive the open transition following the 2019 overthrow of Omar Hassan al-Bashir, damaged by the coup d’état of October 2021, in which Prime Minister of Unity Abdallah Hamdok was overthrown.
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