KHARTOUM / ISTANBUL

Sudan welcomed Thursday US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s call to stop supplying weapons to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

In a statement, Foreign Minister Mohieldin Salem said it was necessary “to call a spade and directly blame the terrorist militia (the RSF) and the mercenaries it brought in to commit massacres against civilians.”

He added that the rebel group could be classified as “a terrorist organization.”

Such clarity, the minister said, “helps correct the international community’s understanding of what is happening in Sudan and prevents equating a national army with an outlaw tribal militia.”

Salem said Rubio’s acknowledgement of the RSF’s “brutality” and his call to halt its weapons supply “sends a strong message” to countries following Sudan’s peace process and to those aiding the militia “either by providing weapons or allowing arms and mercenaries to cross through their territory.”

He urged the international community to note that the rebel group is besieging the cities of Dilling, Kadugli and Babnousa, warning that failing to act risks a repeat of “the tragedy in El-Fasher.”

Rubio said Wednesday that action is needed to halt weapons support to the RSF, as the humanitarian situation for civilians in the country is deteriorating rapidly.

“I think something needs to be done to cut off the weapons and support that the RSF is getting as they continue with their advances,” Rubio told reporters after a G7 foreign ministers’ meeting in Niagara, Canada.

“They’re clearly receiving assistance from outside...and that needs to stop,” he stressed.

El-Basha Tibeig, an adviser to RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, denounced Rubio’s remarks as “an unfortunate step” undermining the efforts by the US-led Quad to reach a humanitarian truce in Sudan.

The bloody conflict between the Sudanese army and the RSF, which began in April 2023, has killed at least 40,000 people and displaced some 12 million, according to the World Health Organization.

Last month, the RSF seized North Darfur state’s capital, El-Fasher, and was accused of massacres. The group controls all five Darfur states out of Sudan’s 18 states, while the army holds most of the remaining 13 states, including Khartoum.