NIAGARA FALLS, Canada — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has urged international partners to halt weapons supplies to Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), following reports of mass killings in el-Fasher.
Speaking after a G7 foreign ministers meeting in Canada, Rubio accused the RSF of committing systematic atrocities, including murder, rape, and sexual violence against civilians. “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,” he told reporters.
RSF Accusations and Denials
Sudan’s army has accused the United Arab Emirates of supplying the RSF with weapons and mercenaries via African nations. The UAE has repeatedly denied the allegations.
The RSF has been fighting Sudan’s army since April 2023, when a power struggle between their leaders erupted into civil war. Last month, the RSF captured el-Fasher after an 18-month siege, giving them control of all major cities in the western Darfur region.
Scale of Atrocities
Rubio rejected RSF claims that killings were carried out by rogue elements, insisting the attacks were systematic. He said the U.S. fears thousands of civilians who were expected to flee el-Fasher are either dead or too malnourished to move.
He stressed that the RSF, lacking its own arms manufacturing capacity, relies on external support, and called for countries supplying weapons to stop.
G7 Statement
The joint G7 communiqué condemned the escalating violence, warning that the conflict between Sudan’s army and the RSF has triggered “the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.”