“The findings of this UN report are truly horrific - atrocities
including systematic starvation, torture, killings, rape and
deliberate ethnic targeting used on the most horrendous scale
during the Rapid Support Forces siege of El Fasher.
“The UK called for this report to be commissioned by the UN in
November to hold perpetrators of these vile atrocities to
account, and today I will take its conclusions to the chamber of
the Security Council and ensure that the voices of women of Sudan
who have endured so much are heard by the world.
“Today's report describes the most unimaginable and chilling
horrors - including people forced to choose between starvation or
eating animal feed, children subjected to mass rape, civilians
ambushed and slaughtered as they fled the sieged city, patients
and staff killed in their hospital, perpetrators boasting of mass
crimes on social media, and calling for extermination.
“We need urgent action from across the international community
including urgent international criminal investigations into the
mounting evidence of atrocities in El Fasher to ensure
accountability for vile perpetrators, justice for victims and to
break the cycle of bloodshed.
“We urgently need an end to arms flows, and it is important that
the Fact Finding Mission is conducting further investigations.
Reports into breaches of the arms embargo which we agree should
be extended and enforced, must be investigated" The obstructions
to the fact finding mission from both warring parties are
shameful and unacceptable - the UN needs unimpeded access to
bring atrocities and breaches to account.
“Most important of all we need global action and pressure in
pursuit of a ceasefire, and essential humanitarian access with
support for survivors.
“Our response must be
emphatic: the UK has sanctioned four senior
RSF commanders accused of committing heinous atrocities in El
Fasher. And this week we joined the US and
France in proposing they will
be designated in the UN too – these crimes must not go
unanswered.
“The world is still failing the people of Sudan. When the stories
started to emerge about the horrors of El Fasher it should have
been a turning point, but the violence is continuing. Today, in
the Security Council, the UK as President will make sure the
world does not look away. It is time to listen to the women of
Sudan not the military men who have been prosecuting this war. We
need action for justice, accountability and peace.”
