Germany’s foreign minister described the situation in Sudan as “apocalyptic” on Saturday as reports of atrocities emerged after El-Fasher fell to paramilitaries, with Britain’s top diplomat also bemoaning the crisis.
At war with the army since April 2023, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces seized El-Fasher on Sunday, dislodging the army’s last stronghold in the western Darfur region after an 18-month siege.
Reports of mass atrocities have sparked international outcry.
“Sudan is absolutely an apocalyptic situation, the greatest humanitarian crisis of the world,” German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said on Saturday.
“The RSF have publicly pledged to protect civilians and they will be held accountable for these actions,” he added.
He was speaking at the IISS Manama Dialogue conference in Bahrain alongside his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi and British Foreign Minister Yvette Cooper, who both decried the reported atrocities in Sudan.
“The reports from Darfur in recent days are truly horrifying,” Cooper said.
“Atrocities, mass executions, starvation and the devastating use of rape as a weapon of war with women and children bearing the brunt of the largest humanitarian crisis in the 21st century,” she added.
The RSF has said it made several arrests after reports emerged of hundreds of people being killed.
Survivors who reached the nearby town of Tawila told AFP of mass killings, children shot before their parents and civilians beaten and robbed as they fled.
Cooper said her country would provide an additional five million pounds (around $6.6 million) in humanitarian support in response to the violence in El-Fasher. Britain is already providing 120 million pounds to Sudan.
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© Agence France-Presse
