Archives: Statements

Genocide Expands into Kordofan as Civilians Face Starvation, Siege, and Forced Displacement 

Washington, DC – As we enter 2026, we at DWAG are extremely alarmed and outraged that the people of Sudan continues to face an unprecedented humanitarian and civilian protection crisis driven by the deliberate actions of armed actors, most notably the genocidal paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), and the continued failure of the international community to take effective measures to address the situation. For nearly three years, civilians across Darfur, Kordofan, and other regions have endured mass displacement, imposed starvation, and systematic attacks on lives and livelihood, including health care and civilian infrastructure, all of which have been perpetrated as part of a deliberate campaign to destroy entire communities. While the world is still reeling from the catastrophe unfolded in Elfasher, recent developments, including the sharp escalation of violence in Kordofan and renewed military offensives in Darfur, signal a dangerous expansion of this genocidal violence into regions already devastated by siege and famine. These events are neither isolated nor unforeseeable; they reflect a sustained pattern of atrocities, impunity, and obstruction of humanitarian access that has been enabled by international inaction. This policy statement documents the latest developments on the ground and reiterates the urgent need for immediate international action centered on civilian protection, accountability, and unhindered humanitarian access, before even more lives are lost.

Sudan’s humanitarian crisis worsens, and Health Systems Collapses

As Sudan approaches 1,000 days of war, the country has descended into what UN agencies now describe as the world’s largest humanitarian emergency, one deliberately manufactured through violence, siege, and the systematic destruction of civilian life and resources. An estimated 33.7 million people, nearly two-thirds of the population, will require humanitarian assistance in 2026, while 21 million face acute food insecurity and more than 20 million need urgent health assistance. Sudan’s health is being deliberately dismantled: over one-third of health facilities are non-functional, cutting millions off from lifesaving care. Since April 2023, the World Health Organization has verified 201 attacks on health care, resulting in at least 1,858 deaths and 490 injuries, violations that place civilians, patients, and medical workers at grave risk and reflect the systematic erosion of civilian protections.

Sudan is now the largest displacement crisis in the world, with 13.6 million people uprooted, including 9.3 million internally displaced and 4.3 million forced to flee across borders. UNICEF reports that children account for nearly half of those in need of humanitarian aid, with repeated attacks killing and injuring children, including in North Kordofan, and nearly 85,000 children treated for severe acute malnutrition in North Darfur alone in 2025, an average of one child every six minutes. These figures expose a devastating reality: humanitarian response, while lifesaving, cannot substitute for peace, protection, and accountability. Without an immediate end to attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, safe and sustained humanitarian access, and decisive international action, Sudan’s crisis will continue to deepen at an irreversible human cost.

Mass Detention of Women and Children in Nyala Prison

This week, credible reports from the Sudan Tribune and Darfur24 confirmed that the RSF is detaining more than 600 women and at least 50 children in Kober Prison in Nyala, South Darfur, under inhumane conditions marked by overcrowding, scarce food and water, and the absence of health care, even for pregnant women and children. Many detainees are being held on vague or fabricated charges, including alleged “espionage,” refusal to join the RSF, or as collective punishment for the actions of male relatives. Survivor testimonies describe women being forcibly removed from prison to perform domestic labor for RSF officers’ families, then returned to detention at night. The imprisonment of women with their children, forced servitude, and denial of necessities constitute grave violations of international humanitarian, human rights law, and the Women, Peace and Security agenda under UNSCR 1325 and related resolutions, which obligate all parties to the conflict to protect women and girls from violence, exploitation, and abuse. 

Kordofan Is Being Turned Into the Next Frontline of Mass Atrocities

This week, violence in Greater Kordofan escalated sharply, placing civilians at grave risk and pushing the region toward the same trajectory of mass displacement and siege that preceded the fall of El Fasher. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), more than 67,000 people were newly displaced in Kordofan between late October and December 30, 2025, as fighting intensified across North, South, and West Kordofan. The region now hosts over one million displaced people, many uprooted multiple times, as insecurity, aerial attacks, and the collapse of basic services force families to flee towns and villages across El Obeid, Kadugli, Dilling, and surrounding areas. This displacement is not incidental; it reflects a deliberate expansion of violence into civilian spaces as armed actors consolidate territorial control.

Kordofan has become a central battleground as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) advance eastward after consolidating control over Darfur. Civilians are bearing the cost of this expansion through drone strikes on residential neighbourhoods, attacks on power infrastructure that plunged El Obeid into darkness, and the tightening of siege conditions on Kadugli and Dilling, where food, medicine, and essential supplies are increasingly unavailable. Humanitarian agencies warn that hunger levels in these cities are nearing famine thresholds, even as access restrictions prevent full assessments. Kordofan today stands where Darfur once stood, clear warning signs visible, civilian suffering escalating, and the world once again facing the consequences of delayed action.

Renewed Military Escalation in Darfur and Kordofan

In January 2026, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) announced renewed military operations aimed at retaking Darfur and Kordofan from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF, Janjaweed militias), signaling a dangerous escalation of a war that has already devastated civilian life. While the SAF has claimed territorial gains and significant RSF losses through airstrikes, drones, and ground offensives, fighting has intensified across both regions, further endangering civilians already trapped by siege, displacement, and famine. Drone strikes, aerial bombardment, and ground clashes have continued in Darfur and Kordofan, including in and around El Fasher, El Obeid, Kadugli, Dilling, and Habila, contributing to new waves of displacement and civilian casualties. UN officials who recently accessed El Fasher for the first time since its fall described the city as a “crime scene,” largely emptied of its population after mass atrocities, ethnically targeted killings, and widespread detentions. As both armed parties pursue military victory, civilians remain unprotected, humanitarian access remains severely constrained, and Sudan’s war continues to evolve not toward peace, but toward deeper regional destabilization and mass human suffering. Such military offensives without binding civilian protection measures, enforced humanitarian access, and accountability for atrocities will only reproduce the same cycle of extermination, displacement, and impunity that has defined this genocide for more than two decades.

Our Calls to Action

The people of Sudan have been left to suffer in silence for far too long.  The crises continued, not due to the lack of evidence. It is the lack of political will among duty bearers and the act with urgency that match the scale and gravity of the crimes being committed. Every day of delay has a human cost measured in lives lost to bombs, hunger, disease, and sexual violence, and in communities erased through displacement and terror. We urge DWAG supporters to join our One Million Voices for Sudan to express outrage and hold our leaders accountable. We must all speak in one voice and tell our leaders that in the face of genocide, they must not look the other way. Normalizing genocide is dangerous to the entire world and must not be tolerated.

DWAG calls on the United Nations, African Union, United States, United Kingdom, European Union, IGAD, and all international and regional actors to act immediately and decisively to:

• Enforce an immediate ceasefire with binding civilian protection guarantees, including an immediate halt to drone strikes, sieges, and attacks on civilians, displacement camps, hospitals, schools, and other civilian infrastructure across all affected areas.
• Authorize safe, sustained, and unhindered humanitarian corridors by land and air, including cross-border access where necessary, to deliver food, medicine, fuel, and emergency assistance, and to allow civilians trapped under siege to flee safely, with independent monitoring to prevent obstruction or diversion.
• Deploy and strengthen international civilian protection mechanisms, including under Chapter VII mandates where applicable, to safeguard civilians, displacement sites, medical facilities, and humanitarian workers, and to deter further mass atrocities.
• Fully support and resource international accountability mechanisms, including the UN Fact-Finding Mission for Sudan and the International Criminal Court, to document ongoing atrocities, preserve evidence, and pursue accountability for genocide, crimes against humanity, sexual violence, and starvation as a weapon of war.
• Impose targeted sanctions and enforcement measures against perpetrators and enablers, including travel bans and asset freezes on RSF leadership and all actors financing, arming, or enabling the commission of atrocities.

Darfur Women Action Group (DWAG) will continue to stand with survivors who refuse to be silenced, even as the world looks away. We will continue to amplify the leadership of Sudanese women, document atrocities as they occur, and demand protection, accountability, and justice rooted in the lived realities of those who have survived extermination and displacement. We can collectively speak in one voice, and we can make a difference, end the suffering, save lives, and hold the perpetrators accountable.  

For inquiries, please contact policy@darfurwomenaction.org

About DWAG: Darfur Women Action Group (DWAG) is a women-led anti-atrocities nonprofit organization with 501(c)(3) status, founded in 2009 by a Darfuri genocide survivor to amplify the voices and empower the affected communities and to provide a platform for interested stakeholders to work on advancing its unique goals.

 

 

 

Washington, D.C. / Geneva – The Darfur Women Action Group (DWAG) welcomes the decision by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to extend the mandate of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) on Sudan. The resolution – A/HRC/60/L.18, titled “Responding to the human rights and humanitarian crisis caused by the ongoing armed conflict in the Sudan” – passed on October 6, 2025, and extends the mandate of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) in Sudan for one year. This renewal allows investigators to continue documenting ongoing atrocities and human rights violations committed by both the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) against the people of Sudan, including war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other grave violations of international law.

This decision comes after the joint effort by a global coalition of human rights organizations, including Darfur Women Action Group(DWAG), in urging the UN Human Rights Council members to vote to extend the mandate of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) on Sudan. This call came amidst escalating atrocities in Darfur and across Kordofan. The current crisis in Sudan is rooted in the long-standing cycle of genocide and impunity that started in Darfur more than 20 years ago. The genocide that started more than two decades ago has yet to be resolved, and the victims of the past are facing unprecedented attacks today.  The scorched earth campaign of  2002- 2003 genocide has resulted in conservative estimates indicating that over 300,000 civilians have been killed, and over 3 million displaced and remained in Camps for two decades,  because their attackers have yet to be apprehended or held accountable. 

Today, the war has devastated the lives and livelihoods of countless civilians across, driving 13 million more out of their homes, with 26 million estimated to be facing severe hunger and food insecurity. Famine in Darfur has reached its breaking point, and the siege in El Fasher has been used as a tool of killing by the RSF,  as 260,000 civilians are trapped in El Fasher without food, medicine, or other means of survival. The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) imposed famine, where countless men, women, and children are facing starvation, disease, and ethnically targeted violence. The suffering in Darfur, Kordofan, and the surrounding regions continued as the region became isolated, with starvation, mass murder, displacement, and ethnic violence continuing unabated.

The renewal of the FFM mandate is of significant importance, as the FFM has been one of the few international mechanisms systematically recording the truth of what is happening in Sudan. Since its establishment in 2023, the FFM has documented and reported on widespread violations by both the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), including indiscriminate shelling of civilians, systematic sexual violence, and deliberate starvation as a weapon of war. Its reports have helped raise international awareness, and its continuation is necessary to preserve critical evidence of gross human rights violations and crimes committed in Sudan, which can pave the way for future justice for the victims and accountability for perpetrators.  

As part of its advocacy, DWAG has actively campaigned for the FFM’s renewal. During the 60th Session of the Human Rights Council, DWAG joined over 100 civil society partners in signing a letter coordinated by Defend Defenders, urging at least a two-year extension. DWAG President Niemat Ahmadi, along with other CSOs, met with more than 20 country’s  delegations in Geneva, participated in high-level panels, and delivered remarks during the debate on Sudan, emphasizing that “Documentation and establishing a record for serious international crimes is of paramount importance for taking an atrocities prevention approach to resolving the crises in Sudan, which starts with accountability.”

While DWAG commends this decision to extend the FFM as a critical step forward, we stress that the scale of the crisis in Sudan demands a stronger, longer-term commitment from the member states. The one-year extension, though welcome, must be accompanied by sustained resources, political will, and enforcement mechanisms to ensure that the FFM has access to information to secure evidence that leads to justice and accountability.

DWAG reiterates that the work of the FFM is far from over. Countless survivors remain unreached, their stories untold, and their trauma unrecorded. The mission must now be strengthened, resourced, and granted full access to operate inside Sudan. Continued pressure from global civil society proves that speaking out can yield results, and it must not stop here.

We call on the Human Rights Council and all member states to:

• Guarantee unrestricted access for the FFM to besieged areas, including El Fasher, Tarasin, and Kordofan;
• Provide full logistical and financial support to expand the mission’s reach and ensure thorough, survivor-centered documentation;
• Preserve and act upon collected evidence, ensuring that it informs prosecutions at both international and national levels;
• Hold external enablers accountable, including those supplying arms, financing militias, or obstructing humanitarian access;
• Recognize that this extension must be a first step, not an endpoint, toward a sustained international justice process for Sudan.

The extension of the FFM is a direct outcome of sustained advocacy, and it serves as a reminder that international engagement can bring tangible progress toward justice

We believe that resolving the crises in Sudan can’t be achieved without proper accountability. The proper accountability can’t be achieved without the collection of evidence and establishing records for the man-made atrocities in Sudan.  

With Gratitude,

Niemat Ahmadi, President, 

Darfur Women Action Group

 

 

 

 

To our supporters,

We at Darfur Women Action Group would like to mark this International Women’s Day by recognizing the resilience, courage and resolve of the women of Sudan fighting for justice in face of horrific atrocities. We are pleased to honor all of the brave Sudanese women for their unmatched resilience and for using their strength and courage to help their community survive and persist in the wake of genocide, war, sexual violence, and displacement, in Sudan, abandoned by the world.

It has been nearly two years since Sudan was engulfed in vicious violence, with indiscriminate attacks resulting in death, destruction, and displacement of millions of innocent civilians, particularly in Darfur and across Sudan. Sexual and gender based violence has been a defining feature of the recent war in Sudan, where rape has been systematically used as a weapon of war.

Last year, the UN Panel of Experts on Sudan and the UN Fact Finding Mission (FFM), reported widespread and escalating conflict-related sexual violence in Darfur, including kidnapping, rape, and sexual exploitation of women and girls.

Both the UN panel of Experts and the UN FFM reported widespread sexual violence committed by members of the RSF and allied militias in all areas under their control and the targeting of women due to their ethnicity, particularly in Darfur.  DWAG alone has documented about 350 cases of rape and sexual violence and over 150 cases of reproductive emergency among displaced women in Darfur. Most of whom are still in dire need of treatment, trauma counseling and psychosocial support 

Despite these risks, grassroots and women-led organizations continue to be the lifeline for their people. When the war erupted and the international aid agencies abandoned Sudan, it was the women of Sudan, along with volunteers and civil society leaders, who stepped up, becoming frontline humanitarian workers: going out every day, delivering aid and helping their communities survive, documenting atrocities, and ensuring that the international community keeps its eyes on Sudan. “It’s indeed their bravery that draws the bold line between hope and despair,” said Ms. Ahmadi, DWAG president.

However, they cannot do it much longer without help from the global community. At DWAG, we promised them that they will never remain silent as these inhuman acts continue with total impunity. 

Today, the situation for Sudanese women and children is dire. Every week, we receive new information from the ground on the use of sexual and gender based violence as a weapon of war. On Tuesday, March 4, UNICEF released a disturbing report on mass sexual violence. Armed militias of men have been committing rape and sexual assault against children as young as one years old. Some have been affected so deeply by this trauma that they have attempted to end their own lives. These acts of violence cannot be allowed to continue. 

Sudanese women and children are amongst the most vulnerable populations within this conflict and genocide and are subject to extreme horrors. Not only do women and children face the brunt of mass sexual violence, they are often forced to contend with severe social stigma and a fear of retaliation. In addition to the stigma of even coming forward as a survivor, there are very limited medical and social services that can address the needs of those who have been harmed. In the fall of last year, the world witnessed in horror as a large number of women in the El Jazeera state were forced to committ suicide to avoid rape.  According to the United Nations, 6.7 million in Sudan were in need of services addressing gender based violence by the end of 2023. Women’s healthcare has been gravely affected by war. Hospitals and medical services that specifically address women’s issues and gynecology have been attacked by RSF shelling leaving women with no place to go. Additionally, female-led households are particularly vulnerable to famine and food insecurity. The majority of 13 million displaced by war in Sudan are women and children.

The women of Sudan are powerful, resilient, and courageous and have been on the frontlines fighting for change, despite the target it puts on their backs. In 2019, women made up 2/3rds of the peaceful protests that led to the ousting of genocidaire, war criminal, and former Sudanese president, Omar Al-Bashir. Not only must the violence against Sudanese women end, but they must be given their rightful place in decision making and role in the peace process. In 2023, Sudanese women of all backgrounds came together in Uganda to formulate their visions for peacebuilding and their priorities regarding the gendered impact of war. Sudanese women have proven themselves to be persistent, brave, and effective participants and their demands must not be brushed aside.

Throughout this conflict, the international community has taken limited intervention and action to prevent genocide, mass atrocities, and gender based violence. There has been no attempt made to protect vulnerable members of Sudanese societies from mass rape, displacement, food insecurity, and more. 

The crimes against women and their community in Sudan are crimes of global magnitude that require global solidarity and actions. Therefore, on this International Women’s Day, DWAG would like to remind our supporters to stand in solidarity with the women of Sudan, speak out and demand serious action to end sexual violence, the use of rape as a weapon of war, and genocide in Sudan.

We call on the UN Security Council, the African Union, the United States, and the larger international community to fulfill their obligation to the women of the world and take the following steps to support and protect Sudanese women. 

• UNSC to adopt a gender-responsive atrocities prevention framework for resolving crises in Sudan which include UNSC using existing measures at its disposal to pressure the belligerents to immediately cease the war and all the crimes against women.
• Prioritize strong UN presence on the ground in Sudan for civilian protection, unhindered humanitarian aid delivery and adequate documentation of atrocities.
• UNSC must propose clear benchmarks for women’s inclusion, and integrate  the UN envoy’s  mandate and obligate its other organs to report periodically on women’s  situation. Financial resources and technical assistance is paramount to ensure women are empowered and enabled to participate from the start including in ceasefire negotiation, monitoring and the long-term peace building effort.
• Criminal and financial accountability for crimes committed in Sudan, with special emphasis on crimes committed against women and women’s inclusion in the process of justice from investigation, during the trial and post-trial arrangements.  
• Member states must include crimes committed against women a priority measure in sanctions designation, all financials and criminal accountability processes.
• Adequate funding for women led organizations for documentation and protection of the GVB survivors and restoration of their dignity.

What you can do to help:

• Support our Stand with Sudan campaign by contacting your member of Congress, the United Nations Security Council members, or writing a letter to the editor of your local newspapers.
• Reshare our posts on social media and use the hashtag #StandWithSudan and #EmpowerWomenofSudan.
• Light a candle and change your social media profile pictures to a purple theme
• Donate to DWAG to help fund our efforts on the ground in Darfur and Sudan as a whole.

Please join us this month in celebrating the heroic and resilient women of Sudan by standing in solidarity and taking action to end their suffering. When we combine our efforts, we are capable of achieving great change.

Thank you for your continued support.

Niemat Ahmadi, Founder and President of DWAG

The first week of March brought new devastation for the Sudanese people, particularly those residing in Darfur and Khartoum. The humanitarian crisis remains dire as civilians are purposely targeted, unprotected, and face imminent starvation by both the RSF and SAF as their clashes for territorial control intensify. 

 El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, has been subject to intentional siege and repeated attacks from the RSF since the war started in early 2023. These terrifying and calculated attacks escalated in January with the paramilitary group attempting to seize control of the city. In February, an RSF attack on the famine-stricken Zamzam Refugee Camp in El Fasher left 8 dead, over 30 injured, and tens of thousands of people displaced with nowhere to go. The refugee camp has been turned into a battleground. The RSF continues its systematic targeting of Indigenous African tribes, committing horrifying crimes against those who have lived in the camp for over two decades and have nowhere to go, some of the most vulnerable of Sudan’s internally displaced population.

During the first week of March, the RSF attacked Darfur again with an escalated barbarity and cruelty, with a focus on the areas around El Fasher, Zamzam Refugee Camp, and Dar As Salaam.

• On March 2nd, the RSF targeted the Abu Shouk IDP Camp and Navaisha Market in El Fasher with artillery shelling, killing 6 civilians 
• On March 3rd, 3,500 civilians were displaced within North Darfur as a result of widespread, targeted RSF attacks. In El Fasher, the RSF is accused of attacking 52 villages and killing 15 people, raping women and children, burning villages, looting livestock and supplies, and burying water wells in the process. In Dar As Salaam, the RSF is accused of attacking 25 villages and killing civilians, burning villages, and looting, leaving people with no means of survival. 
• On March 5th, the RSF attacked the Abu Shouk IDP Camp again with artillery shelling, killing 6 more people and injuring at least 80. Additionally, the Sudan Doctors Network accused the RSF of killing 8 people and wounding 46 others in an attack on the villages of Abu Dilak and Um Ghubeisha in North Darfur.
• On March 7th, the United Nations reported that the humanitarian situation within Zamzam Refugee Camp has reached a breaking point. Due to heavy shelling on the camp, Doctors Without Borders ceased their operations. Amazingly, there has been a new initiative to start a local ambulance within the camp, speaking to the incredible resilience of the Sudanese people in the face of such violence. But this is not enough, there is an urgent need for humanitarian intervention in Darfur.

The sheer number of terrifying atrocities that have occurred in Darfur over the span of just a few days, demonstrates the urgency of the situation in Sudan and the alarmingly fast escalation of violence against civilians, with mass murders being reported nearly every day. It is unfathomable to consider that Darfur is experiencing a genocide right before our eyes and for a second time. 

The horrifying onslaught of violence was not limited to the Darfur region. Radio Dabanga reported on March 3rd, that 7 civilians had been killed by the SAF in a town in the North Kordofan region as they clashed with the RSF. Some of those killed or injured in the bombardment were also targeted by the RSF with gunfire, once again demonstrating the clear targeting of civilians by both parties and a disturbing lack of regard for international law. On March 5th, it was reported that a child was killed in the Omdurman area of Khartoum along with 5 others who were injured in artillery shelling by the RSF. In Khartoum, RSF attacks injured at least 15 people with live ammunition. It was additionally reported that the RSF has been using residential areas in Khartoum, east of the Nile, to hold detainees. 

On March 4th and March 6th, the UN released two reports on human rights violations in Sudan. In a devastating report on mass sexual violence, UNICEF revealed that armed militias have been raping hundreds of children, including some as young as one years old. There were 221 cases of rape against children reported since the start of 2024 but this number is likely a severe undercount. These instances are severe violations of international law and constitute war crimes. The second report detailed a pattern of human rights abuses by both the RSF and the SAF within detention centers in the state of Khartoum. Reports of torture included sexual violence, severe beatings, overcrowding, lack of sanitation, inadequate food and water, and the use of children as prison guards. There were also reports of discrimination from both the RSF and SAF based on ethnicity and perceived affiliation with the opposition. Unfortunately, these incidents are not limited to Khartoum as OHCHR has reported on a similar pattern occurring in the states of Darfur and Gezira. 

The first week of March brought unfathomable horrors for the Sudanese people, particularly those residing in Darfur and Khartoum. As the violence escalates, it becomes more urgent than ever that the international community steps in and puts an end to the suffering. These recent attacks are not isolated incidents. They are a part of the RSF’s deliberate and calculated policy of extermination and they require accountability and justice from the international community in response.

We cannot allow these international crimes to continue unhindered. 

We call on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), the African Union, the United States, and the larger international community to take the following steps to end the suffering and save lives in Sudan:

• Swiftly authorize and deploy civilian protection forces to protect the innocent Sudanese people, particularly in Darfur; 
• Impose  criminal and financial accountability for all individuals and states complicit in committing past and present genocide and war crimes in Sudan;
• Demand that the warring parties immediately cease all attacks and strictly adhere to a permanent, verifiable ceasefire;
• Authorize urgent and unimpeded access to humanitarian aid for all in need across Sudan;
• Press the warring parties to stop the torture, murder, rape, and starvation of civilians as a strategy of war;
• 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.

The people of Sudan have suffered for far too long. We urge you to call on our world leaders to take action in support of Sudan. The millions of vulnerable people facing imminent death in Sudan must not be ignored. 

With gratitude,

Niemat Ahmadi
President, Darfur Women Action Group (DWAG)
The DWAG Team

Dear Secretary of State Blinken and members of the mediation team,

Darfur Women Action Group (DWAG) and the undersigned Sudanese women civil society leaders, activists, refugees, and displaced persons in the diaspora and Sudan, extend our gratitude to you and the

U.S. government for taking steps to address the suffering of the Sudanese people. We are writing to you now with urgency to sound the alarm on the escalating violence, increased severe humanitarian crisis, and the critical need for civilian protection in Darfur and across Sudan. Today’s crisis, fueled by long-standing impunity and inaction regarding crimes committed in Darfur over the past two decades, demands immediate intervention. We urge the U.S. government and all stakeholders to take robust action to deliver desperately needed lifesaving humanitarian aid and authorize UN-led forces to protect civilians before it is too late.

Sudan has been engulfed in a vicious war that has brought untold suffering to the women, men, and children of Sudan. Since April 2023, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) have been engaged in a senseless war and have committed heinous crimes against the people of Sudan, including crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide. The violence, which began in Khartoum, rapidly escalated across the country, with Darfur experiencing the most devastating atrocities, including the ethnic slaughter of the Masalit and other indigenous African communities. While the RSF continues to occupy, indiscriminately shell and loot civilians’ homes, by using rape, sexual and gender-based violence as a tactic of war, the SAF are employing heavy artillery shelling, air strikes, and indiscriminate attacks mainly targeting civilians’ homes, markets, essential public services, and evacuation routes. Women and girls as young as 10 years of age have been abducted and raped numerous times, sometimes, in front of their families in an attempt to break the families’ will and destroy their dignity.

In addition, the deliberate targeting of humanitarian workers and local volunteers in Darfur is extremely concerning, as it has severely undermined aid operations and put millions of people at high risk of starvation. Both warring parties have employed starvation as a weapon of warfare against innocent civilians by blocking humanitarian access. As a result, over 10 million people are displaced within Sudan, trapped with nowhere to go, many dying in silence. It is estimated that more than 2 people million have fled the country as refugees, living in deplorable conditions in neighboring countries, lacking even the most basic means of survival. The UN has warned that over 26 million Sudanese are facing acute hunger, with famine already declared in Darfur, where hundreds are dying in displacement camps with no shelter, as the rainy season and increasing flood have exacerbated their suffering beyond description.

We are saddened and appalled by the lack of international attention and action on Sudan. When the war erupted and aid agencies fled, our people were left to fend for themselves amid the brutality. It was the women, youth, civil society in Sudan, and the diaspora who have taken on the challenge of helping our people survive, but it has become nearly impossible due to insecurity and restrictions imposed by both sides. For 16 months, we have been dehumanized, forced to witness our families being slaughtered, trapped, and left to die in silence. Recent attacks in El Jazeera and Sinar States have devastated the lives of hundreds of thousands, with the RSF killing civilians, looting properties, and seizing control of grain warehouses, further exacerbating the suffering of those forced to flee during the heavy rainy season.

The siege and escalated attacks in El Fasher, the capital city of North Darfur, have resulted in some of the deadliest mass atrocities. The severe restrictions on movement, the blockade of medical supplies brought by aid groups, and widespread insecurity, have led to a scarcity of essential services and skyrocketing costs of food, water, and fuel. RSF fighters have burned over forty villages surrounding El Fasher, intentionally crippling the food supply and increasing vulnerability as part of a deliberate tactic to exacerbate civilian suffering. RSF bombardment of all three hospitals and the last two clinics in El Fasher, while patients were still inside, with over 900 patients now left with no medical attention, highlights the severity of the crisis. According to UNICEF, at least seventy-seven hospitals across Sudan have come under attack since the war began, though the true number is likely far higher. These actions are clear violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, and perpetrators must be dealt with accordingly.

The crisis in Sudan is of a global magnitude and requires a global response. As the U.S.-led negotiations on Sudan’s civil war approach on August 14, 2024, the international community must prioritize the urgency facing the Sudanese people rather than prolong negotiations. Both warring parties, led by Sudanese generals, have repeatedly promised a cessation of hostilities but have failed to honor ceasefire agreements since the conflict began. The U.S. and stakeholders in Geneva must use this meeting to bring together the coalition of those willing to collectively intervene and save civilian lives before it is too late. We, therefore, urge you to take the following steps to swiftly end the crisis in Sudan:

1. The U.S. and its allies in Geneva must demand that the warring parties issue a public call on their troops to stop attacks, adhere to immediate and unconditional cessation of hostilities, end the siege on El Fasher and all other cities, and generally halt the killing across Sudan.
2. The warring parties must halt all attacks against women and humanitarian workers.
3. The warring parties must agree to women’s participation by no less than 50% in all aspects of the peace process, including ceasefire negotiations, peacekeeping operations, and other processes related to the resolution of the conflict.
4. Call for the immediate deployment of UN-led forces under Chapter VII to protect civilians in conflict zones of Sudan to prevent further atrocities against vulnerable populations.
5. Publicly recognize the use of starvation as a weapon of warfare in Sudan to prevent further loss of life and ensure that unhindered humanitarian aid reaches those in desperate need, particularly in El Fasher, Central Sudan, and Sinar areas.
6. Call on countries that violate the existing sanctions or arms embargoes against Sudan to stop and they must, subsequently, face accountability
   
7. Impose travel bans and other sanctions as punitive measures on parties that refuse to end the violence or allow humanitarian aid.

Thank you for your kind consideration. With Gratitude,

Niemat Ahmadi, DWAG President

For the safety of those involved, the list of the other 100 signatories has been removed.

Today, on World Humanitarian Day, Darfur Women Action Group (DWAG) would like to draw attention to the worst humanitarian crises in Sudan and stand in solemn recognition of the courageous efforts of humanitarian workers around the globe, particularly those risking their lives in the conflict zones of Sudan. We wish to take this opportunity to call on the United Nations Security Council to make the protection of civilians and the protection of humanitarian workers in conflict zones, particularly in Sudan, an urgent priority. DWAG would also like to recognize the locally based Sudanese volunteers who have become front-line humanitarian workers without preparation or protection,  fiercely delivering aid and helping their communities survive every day.  Many have been killed, wounded, and prosecuted simply because of their life-saving work and they must be protected.  

 

The humanitarian crisis in Sudan is a stark reminder that the international community’s commitment to protecting civilians and providing life-saving assistance must be unwavering. Across Sudan, around 25 million people— over half the country’s population— urgently need humanitarian assistance, with 48% of them being children. For many, humanitarian workers are their last hope. Yet, humanitarian access has been severely compromised by ongoing violence,  targeted attacks on aid workers, and famine that kills every day. The deliberate use of starvation as a weapon of war, flooding that obstructs escape routes, and blockades of major supply lines into besieged cities such as El Fasher have escalated the suffering of millions. 

 

The ongoing conflict, now 16 months long, has devastated civilian infrastructure. Over 75% of health facilities in conflict-affected states are non-functional, and since April 2023, 88 attacks on healthcare—including workers, facilities, and ambulances—have resulted in at least 55 deaths and 104 injuries. In Darfur, women flee hundreds of miles seeking safety from sexual violence, parents despair as they struggle to feed their children, and children are forced to leave home to escape indiscriminate shelling amidst intense flooding because even the refugee camps are under attack.

 

In 2023, Sudan became the second most dangerous place in the world for humanitarians, with at least 22 aid workers killed. The situation in Sudan is dire. Humanitarian workers in the region are facing unprecedented challenges as they strive to deliver aid amidst escalating violence and systemic obstruction. Despite these hurdles, they continue to serve those in need with extraordinary courage and dedication, stepping up where the international community has failed. Their efforts are critical, but they cannot replace the need for urgent, decisive action from global leaders to address the root causes of this crisis and ensure that humanitarian aid reaches all those in need. It is our leaders’ duty to uphold international humanitarian laws and serious measures for their protection worldwide— today and every day.

 

DWAG stands firmly by humanitarian workers and the people whose suffering they alleviate. To continue their life-saving work, they need not just our support, but yours as well. It is clear that much more funding is needed for humanitarian assistance. It is also clear that, no matter what, DWAG will continue to raise awareness of the conflict in Sudan and amplify the voices of the afflicted as warring parties try to silence them through killings, rape, starvation, and intimidation.

 

Thanks to our donors and supporters, our DWAG team in Sudan has been able to distribute life-saving emergency relief to refugees arriving in South Sudan. We will continue to deliver assistance where we can to vulnerable people in Darfur. We will not stand back in the face of horrifying death and suffering. The world cannot afford to turn a blind eye— keep your eyes on Sudan!

 

Thank you for your continued support. Stay tuned for more updates and opportunities to take action.

 

With Gratitude, 

Niemat Ahmadi, DWAG President

The DWAG Team