Two decades ago, the UN Security Council heard reports of atrocities against civilians in Darfur. “Today, some of the same actors are again victimizing vulnerable communities, a circumstance possible in part because perpetrators were never held accountable for committing atrocities twenty years ago,” noted Ambassador Robert Wood, U.S. Alternate Representative for Special Political Affairs at the United Nations.
“The Rapid Support Forces in Darfur are committing widespread acts of sexual violence, attacking health care facilities and burning villages. In a horrifying echo of the past. The Rapid Support Forces, together with affiliated Arab militias, have been targeting members of the Masalit and other non-Arab populations of West Darfur. They are reportedly hunting men and boys, shooting civilians fleeing their homes, and kidnaping and raping women and girls.”
“The violence targeted along ethnic lines is a result of unresolved grievances exacerbated by decades of conflict,” observed Ambassador Wood.
“Sudanese Armed forces have reportedly conducted indiscriminate airstrikes. Systematically blocked humanitarian aid shipments and directed extreme violence at civilians as a tool of collective punishment. The systematic sexual violence committed against women and girls in Khartoum, throughout Darfur and across Sudan is appalling.”
The people of Darfur deserve justice, said Ambassador Wood. The United States has long supported accountability in the existing cases before the International Criminal Court, including with respect to the ongoing trial of former Janjaweed commander Abd-Al-Rahman and the fugitives from justice, said Ambassador Wood:
“Our Global Criminal Justice Rewards program maintains a $5 million reward for information that leads to the arrest, transfer, or conviction for war crimes or crimes against humanity, A former Minister of State for the interior, Ahmed Harun. While we are encouraged by reports that the Sudanese authorities are beginning to cooperate with the ICC [International Criminal Court], we call on them to do more. That includes arresting the fugitives who remain at large and permitting ICC teams access and protection to conduct investigative activities within the country.”
The horrific acts of violence committed by the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, and the humanitarian crisis that has resulted, must end. It is long past time to break the cycle of impunity that has fed this conflict, to halt the killing and to empower the Sudanese people in their pursuit of a peaceful and prosperous future.
