US calls for international action to cut weapons supply to Sudan paramilitaries

The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan are suspected of carrying out mass murders in el-Fasher. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has urged international action to stop the RSF’s weapons supply.

Rubio claimed the RSF had committed systematic atrocities, including rape, murder, and sexual violence against civilians, at the conclusion of a G7 foreign ministers conference in Canada.

The army of Sudan claims that the United Arab Emirates is supporting the RSF by sending mercenaries and weaponry through African countries. These accusations have been consistently refuted by the UAE.

How much of an impact Rubio’s call will have is unclear. The RSF committed to a humanitarian truce in Sudan last week, but they have previously broken a previous US-backed deal.

After an 18-month siege, the RSF took El-Fasher last month, giving them control over every city in the large western Darfur area.

Massacres are reported to have occurred in the city, although only a small portion of the population has been able to escape. Satellite images show blood-stained dirt and piles of bodies on the ground. The US and humanitarian organizations claim that the RSF is systematically targeting non-Arab tribes in the larger Darfur region in what amounts to genocide.

At the talks near Niagara Falls on Monday, America’s top diplomat said women and children had been targeted in acts of the most horrific kind by the RSF in el-Fasher.

Rubio told reporters: “They’re committing acts of sexual violence and atrocities, just horrifying atrocities, against women, children, innocent civilians of the most horrific kind. And it needs to end immediately.

“And we’re going to do everything we can to bring it to an end, and we’ve encouraged partner nations to join us in this fight.”

Rubio, however, refrained from publicly denouncing Abu Dhabi despite proof that the Gulf state is the RSF’s primary armament source, as reported in foreign media investigations that the UN has deemed reliable.

Together with the UAE, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia—all friends of Sudan’s military-led government—the Trump administration is attempting to put an end to the conflict. The RSF did not declare its agreement to the truce until it had seized el-Fasher. The UAE’s position in the Quad is opposed by Sudan’s army, but it will nonetheless take the plan under consideration.