Manama (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul described the situation in Sudan as “apocalyptic” on Saturday, with British Foreign Minister Yvette Cooper also bemoaning the crisis.
The statement called the situation in Sudan, which has been experiencing a brutal civil war for more than two years, stark and apocalyptic, after a paramilitary group RSF, took control of the last major city in western Sudan.
Wadephul was speaking at the IISS Manama Dialogue conference in Bahrain alongside his Jordanian counterpart, Ayman Safadi, and British minister Cooper, who both condemned the reported atrocities in Sudan.
How did the German and UK ministers respond to the crisis?
“Sudan is absolutely an apocalyptic situation, the greatest humanitarian crisis of the world,”
Wadephul said.
“The RSF have publicly pledged to protect civilians and they will be held accountable for these actions,”
he also said.
“The reports from Darfur in recent days are truly horrifying,”
Cooper said.
“Atrocities, mass executions, starvation, and the devastating use of rape as a weapon of war with women and children bearing the brunt of the largest humanitarian crisis in the 21st century,”
she also said.
Cooper announced that her country will contribute an extra five million pounds in humanitarian aid for the violence in El-Fasher. The UK has already allocated 120 million pounds to Sudan.
What reports have emerged about atrocities and violence in Darfur?
The accounts of horrors surfacing from the Sudanese city of El Fasher, since it was seized by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) last weekend, match a widely recognised pattern. Estimates of the number of dead in El Fasher since the RSF took it from the army on 26 October are in the thousands.
Following an offensive by RSF last weekend, more than 60,000 people left el-Fasher, according to the UN refugee agency. Reports have surfaced regarding mass executions and crimes against humanity as RSF forces conducted the offensive in a city which had been under siege for 18 months, with residents facing starvation and intensive bombardments throughout.
The government of Sudan indicated that at least 2,000 people have died in the city since then, whilst aid agencies reported that they have received credible reports of atrocities including summary executions, attacks on civilians along escape roads, and house-to-house raids. According to them, they also received reports of sexual violence, specifically concerning women and girls, in the city.
