GENEVA

Sudan's ambassador to the UN in Geneva on Tuesday warned that atrocities in El-Fasher amount to genocide and said famine-like conditions are unfolding because the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are blocking humanitarian access.

"The humane tragedy unfolding in El-Fasher is not a surprise. Sudan has been warning about this inhumane tragedy for over 2 years. It is the direct result of the international community's inaction," Hassan Hamid told a media briefing in Geneva.

Hamid said civilians trapped under siege are facing starvation, with some resorting to eating "animal feed leftovers" to survive. He said hospitals, including Saudi Hospital and El-Fasher University Hospital, were stormed by RSF fighters, where "patients, medical staff, and wounded (were) executed inside operating rooms."

He presented what he described as documentation from the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab, the UN Human Rights Office, and the Darfur Advocacy Group as evidence of genocide, detailing ethnic targeting, executions, sexual violence and forced displacement.

Famine is “man-made,” he said, adding: "This is not about hunger, (food) shortage, but it is a lack of access to the areas that are controlled by RSF. Those who are starving now are those in the areas controlled by RSF."

By contrast, he said the government is allowing aid in areas it controls. "If we are talking about the delivery of humanitarian assistance to the needy people within the area controlled by the government of Sudan … we have opened all our borders. Cross-border access is allowed. And likewise, of course, internal access is also allowed."

The ambassador cited evidence from satellite images and human rights monitors showing ethnic targeting, executions, sexual violence and forced displacement.

"International silence has enabled genocide," he said. "The world must not look away. It is not neutrality, it is complicity."

According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), famine has now been declared in El-Fasher and the besieged town of Kadugli. The International Criminal Court also recently warned that the reported atrocities in El-Fasher may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The RSF has recently taken control of Bara and El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, as part of its ongoing war with the Sudanese army, though it denies targeting civilians.

Since April 15, 2023, the Sudanese army and the RSF have been locked in a war that regional and international mediations have failed to end. The conflict has killed thousands of people and displaced millions of others.