Khartoum — The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement Saturday, regarding the latest report of the United Nations observers team on the implementation of Security Council Resolution No. 1591 on Darfur, on the war waged by the rebel militia and its supporters against the Sudanese people.
The Sudan News Agency (SUNA) publishes an unofficial translation of the statement below:
Republic of Sudan Ministry of Foreign Affairs Office of the Official Spokesperson and Media Department
Press Release
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs followed with full attention the contents of the latest report of the United Nations observers team on the implementation of Security Council Resolution No. 1591 on Darfur, regarding the war waged by the rebel militia and its supporters against the Sudanese people. The report highlighted the following facts:
1. The victims of ethnic cleansing and genocide committed by the rebel militia and its allies in West Darfur state alone amounted to between 10 and 15 thousand civilians, including women, children and the elderly. 2. The continued supply of advanced weapons provided and facilitated by specific countries, which the report named, and which arrive on flights several times a week, in violation of the relevant Security Council resolutions, is what enables the rebel militia to expand its military operations, commit atrocities against civilians, and prolong the war and its geographical extension. 3. The militia owns an external financing network and more than fifty commercial companies in a number of countries, which enables it to obtain weapons with which to kill the Sudanese people, buy the loyalty of politicians and media figures, and hire public relations and propaganda companies to try to improve its bleak image. 4. The report confirmed what the Sudanese government has been warning about, that the international community's slow reaction and hesitation in taking decisive measures against the militia, classifying it as a terrorist group, and treating it in the same way as ISIS, Boko Haram, the Lord's Army and the like groups, contributes to the continuation of the war, disrupts peace efforts, and exacerbates the humanita suffering for millions of Sudanese inside and outside the country.
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In light of this, the Ministry requests the following: First: Quickly classify the militia as a terrorist group and criminalize dealing with it. Second: That the United Nations Security Council assume its responsibility towards the countries that fuel the continuation of the war in Sudan by providing the militia with weapons and political and media support, as identified in the report, and consider them as committing the crime of aggression punishable by international criminal justice. Third: Pursuing and liquidating the militia's financing networks and commercial companies, and holding accountable the public relations and propaganda companies employed by the militia in the United States, Britain, Canada, and other countries because they are partners in the crimes it commits. Fourth: The complete and precise implementation of the Jeddah Declaration of Humanitarian Principles signed on May 11, 2023 and the subsequent commitments must be a necessary condition for the start of any peace efforts to reach a ceasefire, and not provide the militia with the opportunity to employ the various paths of peace efforts to evade implementing what it has committed itself to. Saturday, January 20, 2024.
