Editorial: Stop Beating Around the Bush!

By: Muawad Mustafa Rashid

While the Rapid Support Forces militia’s crimes against civilians escalate, the international community continues to respond to the Sudanese tragedy with apathy and suspicious silence, contenting itself with statements of “deep concern,” as if the blood of Sudanese is worthless in the scales of international justice.
In its most recent statement, the UN Security Council expressed “grave concern” over reports confirming the killing of approximately 400 civilians, including children, in Zamzam camp and El Fasher, demanding the lifting of the siege and the accountability of those responsible.
However, the question that poses itself is: Is deep concern enough after two years of repeated massacres?
Since the April 2023 coup led by the Rapid Support Forces militia, Sudan has witnessed a systematic war of genocide.
In Darfur alone, more than 10,000 people have been killed and another million from the Masalit tribe have been displaced, according to a statement before the Security Council by the Sultan of Dar Masalit, Saad Bahr Abdel Rahman.
The crimes have included burning civilians alive, burying the wounded alive, and mutilating corpses, including that of West Darfur Governor Khamis Abkar.
The massacres extended to central regions, where more than 207 civilians were killed in Wad al-Nura and another 200 in al-Hilaliya, as part of a campaign of violence targeting peaceful villages in the Gezira region. In al-Qitaina in White Nile State, militias committed a massacre that claimed the lives of more than 430 civilians, most of whom were women, children, and the elderly.
In the Sabreen Market in Omdurman, 61 civilians were killed and 73 others injured in a direct attack by Rapid Support Forces, followed by looting and forced displacement. Abu Shouk camp in El Fasher, which houses hundreds of thousands of displaced people, was subjected to daily shelling, resulting in dozens of deaths and the destruction of infrastructure.
The crimes were not limited to lives; they also affected infrastructure: facilities were looted, power stations were destroyed, communications facilities were vandalized, and humanitarian aid was completely obstructed.
The number of Sudanese refugees has exceeded 7.2 million, having fled to neighboring countries, in addition to 8 million internally displaced persons living in dire conditions.
Former US diplomat Cameron Hudson said: “Condemnation is not enough. What is required is to impose strict sanctions on the Rapid Support Forces leadership and expand the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court to include all crimes in Sudan.”
What is happening today in Sudan is a test of the conscience of the international community.
Will it remain silent in the face of documented massacres and crimes against humanity? When will the Rapid Support Forces be designated a terrorist organization? And when will the Sudanese be treated as human beings with the right to life, security, and dignity?
It is time to break this shameful silence and speak out the truth without embellishment or equivocation.