FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 8, 2025

CONTACT

Rachel Levine | rachel@allianceforpeacebuilding.org

Washington, DC, USA — The Alliance for Peacebuilding (AfP), a network of 225+ organizations working in 181 countries to prevent and reduce violent conflict and violence and build sustainable peace, strongly supports the long overdue determination by the United States Government that members of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied militias have committed genocide in Sudan. AfP also welcomes the U.S. decision to impose sanctions on RSF leader Mohammad Hamdan Daglo Mousa (“Hemedti”), seven RSF-owned companies located in the United Arab Emirates, and an RSF-affiliated individual.

Since the conflict in Sudan broke out in April 2023, the AfP-led Prevention and Protection Working Group (PPWG) has met regularly with the U.S. Government, called on the State Department to make an initial atrocity determination in 2023, pushed for an updated determination in a December 2024 sign-on letter, and recommended diplomatic, policy, and programmatic approaches to hold atrocity perpetrators accountable. AfP now calls on the outgoing Biden Administration, the incoming Trump Administration, and Congress, as well as the international community, to urgently act upon this genocide determination by working toward a ceasefire and a comprehensive peace agreement and supporting a civilian-led democratic transition, justice and accountability for all atrocities, and much-needed civilian protection, humanitarian, peacebuilding, and development assistance.

Yesterday’s announcement follows the December 2023 determination by the U.S. that members of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF committed war crimes, and that members of the RSF and allied militias committed crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing. Since the conflict began, an estimated 150,000 people have died. Today, around 12 million people have been displaced and nearly half of the Sudanese population is food insecure. As of late December 2024, over 24.6 million people live in areas of high acute food insecurity and five areas are experiencing famine, with five others likely to experience it by May. Throughout the conflict, the SAF and RSF have blocked access to direly needed humanitarian aid and used starvation as a weapon of war. Both groups have committed independently verified atrocities, including targeting civilian infrastructure and hospitals and perpetrating widespread and devastating sexual and gender-based violence, including mass rapes and forced pregnancies.

Naming the RSF’s crimes as genocide is an important step. However, this genocide determination must be more than words on paper. The U.S. Government and international community must take coordinated and multisectoral action to protect civilians, support an inclusive end to the conflict, and ensure justice and accountability. Specifically, the outgoing Biden Administration, the incoming Trump Administration, and Congress and the international community must:

• Regularly review and update determinations by the Secretary of State of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity by the parties to the Sudan conflict and the involvement of foreign governments, businesses, and other non-state entities and actors driving the violence.

• Coordinate with the United Nations and other governments and issue additional sanctions against those who directed, supported, and perpetrated atrocities, including conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), as well as the states (such as the United Arab Emirates), external actors, and private entities providing the means to carry them out.

• Support inclusive negotiations towards a ceasefire and sustainable peace that meaningfully engage women, youth, and other marginalized and impacted communities.

• Center the principles of the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) Agenda in all diplomatic engagements in Sudan and make Sudan the cornerstone of the U.S.’s commitment to implementation of the WPS Act and Agenda.

• Sustainably fund local Sudanese civil society organizations to support peacebuilding, justice, and accountability mechanisms.

• Provide robust, expedited, and conflict-sensitive assistance to meet the staggering humanitarian need in the country, as well as urge all parties to the conflict to avoid restricting or interfering with the delivery of such aid.

• Directly and flexibly support the delivery of local conflict-sensitive humanitarian aid through the Emergency Response Rooms (ERRs) and other local mutual aid groups.

• Develop a comprehensive strategy to protect civilians, including through support for unarmed civilian protection initiatives and organizations.

• Support survivors of conflict-related sexual violence, including funding for trauma-informed medical, psychological, and legal services and resources to monitor and document and preservice evidence of future instances of such human rights abuses.

• Immediately withdraw the pending $1.2 billion dollar U.S. arms sale to the UAE given its history of supplying the RSF with the means to perpetrate genocide.

To read more recommendations on how the incoming Trump Administration should address the crisis in Sudan, please see AfP's transition memo, Status Quo No More: How the New Administration Can Prevent and Resolve Conflict here.

The Alliance for Peacebuilding (AfP), named the “number one influencer and change agent” among peacebuilding institutions worldwide, is an award-winning nonprofit and nonpartisan network of 225+ organizations working in 181 countries to prevent and reduce violent conflict and build sustainable peace. AfP cultivates a network to strengthen and advance the peacebuilding field, enabling peacebuilding organizations to achieve greater impact—tackling issues too large for any one organization to address alone.