Weekly Policy Statement August 18th – Darfur Women Action Group

August 18-22, 2025

Starvation, Siege, and Genocide in Sudan: The World Cannot Look Away

Increase Atrocities and Unspeakable Suffering

Violence is spreading at an alarming rape, particularly in Darfur and Kordofan where cities are under suffocating siege, aid convoys are bombed, and civilians are executed because of their ethnicity. The violence and fragmentation threaten to spill far beyond Sudan’s borders, creating fertile ground for extremist groups to take root. Security is deteriorating, aid delivery is deliberately impeded, and the country teeters on total collapse. The most urgent matter now is the protection of civilians and an immediate ceasefire.

Cities Under Siege and Civilian Starvation

Four major Sudanese cities, El Fasher, Kadugli, Dilling, and El Obeid, are under siege, with civilians facing catastrophic humanitarian conditions as hunger, disease, and displacement spread. In El Fasher, the RSF has blocked food and medical supplies for over 15 months, leaving residents to survive on animal feed. Reports from Abu Shouk camp indicate at least four hunger-related deaths weekly, with 21 deaths in just 45 days. In South and North Kordofan, Kadugli and Dilling have been cut off from supply routes, forcing residents to eat leaves and grass, while shortages of flour, sugar, and oil worsen. In El Obeid, renewed clashes have displaced thousands, consumer prices have soared 500%, water costs have skyrocketed, and hospitals face collapse without fuel for generators. Protesters demanding relief have faced repression, and communications are heavily restricted, worsening isolation.

On August 22nd, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights reported that at least 89 civilians were killed, including 16 summarily executed, in the past 10 days in El Fasher and Abu Shouk camp. The death toll is likely much higher. The 16 people who were summarily executed were from the Zaghawa tribe, and another person was killed after saying he belonged to the Berti tribe. This is ethnically motivated violence. This genocide in Sudan is not receiving the international attention it needs.

On August 17th, the Emergency Lawyers group, a Sudanese human rights group, documented evidence of torture in Khartoum by the SAF. The Emergency Lawyers group outlines how the SAF arrested hundreds of people and brought them to detention centers. These detention centers were found to have torture rooms, and “execution chambers”. This arbitrary detention and torture is not limited to the SAF, the RSF has also used detention, torture, and rape as a weapon of war. This horror must stop, and the SAF and RSF need to be held accountable.

Journalists Facing Oppression and Detention

Since the war in Sudan began in April 2023, journalists have faced systematic targeting through assassination, arbitrary detention, torture, and forced displacement. The Sudanese Journalists Syndicate has documented 556 violations over two years, including the killing of 31 journalists, the detention of 239, and widespread harassment, intimidation, and digital surveillance. Both SAF and RSF treat reporters as enemies, accusing them of espionage, looting media offices, and silencing those who expose war crimes or humanitarian neglect. Female journalists face heightened intimidation, while families of reporters are harassed or detained as leverage. Silencing journalists means silencing witnesses and erasing documentation of war crimes, obscuring evidence of genocide, and leaving civilians to die unseen.

We urgently call on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), the African Union, the United States, and the broader international community to take the following urgent actions:

Authorize urgent and unimpeded access to humanitarian aid for all in need across Sudan;
Swiftly authorize and deploy civilian protection forces to protect the innocent Sudanese people, particularly in Darfur;
Press the warring parties to stop the torture, murder, rape, and starvation of civilians in Darfur and across the Sudan;
Press the warring parties to immediately cease all attacks and strictly adhere to a permanent, verifiable ceasefire;
Impose criminal and financial accountability for all individuals and states complicit in committing past and present genocide and war crimes in Sudan;
U.S., UNSC, and allies must hold the regional and international enablers supplying weapons to the warring parties in Sudan accountable;
US and allies must cease the selling of arms to the UAE and prevent genocide in Sudan.
We call on the United States to issue a waiver for Sudanese refugees, students to enter into the US without restriction

As attacks on civilians and the humanitarian crisis intensifies we must speak out and demand action. We need leaders to ensure delivery of humanitarian aid and advance a political process to end this devastating crisis. We further call on DWAG supporters to speak up and tell our leaders- in the face of genocide and the incredible suffering they must not look the other way, they must meet their moral and legal obligation by standing against genocide in Sudan. The time to act is now. Please join our Stand with Sudan campaign to take action, support the life saving effort and rally others to be a voice for the people of Sudan.

With our collective effort we can ease the suffering, compel our leaders to act and hold those responsible accountable.

With Gratitude,

Niemat Ahmadi,

DWAG President