PRESS RELEASE : Statement Condemning Atrocities in Darfur [August 2023]
The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 4 August 2023.
Troika (Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States) statement condemning the atrocities in Darfur, Sudan.
The Troika (Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States) condemn in the strongest terms the ongoing violence in Darfur, especially reports of killings based on ethnicity and widespread sexual violence by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied militias. We call on all parties to immediately cease attacks and prevent the further spread of fighting. Those responsible must be held to account. Full access to conflict-affected areas must be granted so that abuses can be properly investigated and so that life-saving humanitarian aid can reach survivors who urgently need it. We are gravely concerned about reports of a military build-up near El Fasher, North Darfur, and Nyala, South Darfur, where further violence will put more civilians at risk.
The expansion of the needless and ruinous conflict between RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) to Darfur has caused incalculable human suffering. Those responsible for any atrocities against civilians, especially those including Conflict Related Sexual Violence and the targeting of humanitarian relief actors, medical personnel, and other service providers, must be held to account. We remind the parties to the conflict of their obligations under international humanitarian law related to the protection of civilians. We call on all parties to the conflict to enable humanitarian access in Darfur and throughout the country.
The SAF and the RSF must silence their guns and find a negotiated exit from the conflict they started. The security forces must relinquish their hold on power to a civilian transitional government that fulfils the Sudanese people’s aspirations for freedom, peace, and justice.
