The World’s Failure to Punish Rebellion: No Sanctions… and No Protection Befitting the Scale of Atrocities

By Ambassador Dr. Muawiya Al-Bukhari

Introduction: El Fasher — A City Speaking the Language of Blood and Global Indifference

At the heart of Darfur lies the wounded city of El Fasher, besieged by death and hunger while the world watches in complicit silence. For nearly two years, images of civilians fleeing their burned neighborhoods, the sick dying of thirst, snipers’ bullets, or the absence of medicine have filled the screens, while international platforms limit themselves to “deep concern” and hollow condemnations.

El Fasher today is not merely a stricken Sudanese city; it is a mirror reflecting the failure of the international system to protect civilians and exposing the moral, ethical, and political bankruptcy of the major powers that preach human rights yet fall silent when humanity is slaughtered outside their geopolitical interests.

In this tragedy, the paralysis of international will is laid bare: no sanctions imposed, no terrorist designations declared, and no accountability for perpetrators, despite the overwhelming documentation of atrocities that have long crossed the red lines drawn by the United Nations itself.

Still, the world continues to manage the crisis from afar—as if the victims were just statistics in reports or fleeting images on TV screens. Such is Sudan’s fate: its cities and villages endure, and El Fasher stands as a testament to resilience, bravery, and history being written in blood.

Documented Crimes… and Irrefutable Evidence

The crimes committed by the rebel militia in El Fasher are no longer “allegations.” They are documented cases—names, dates, photos, sequences of events, and even the perpetrators’ own confessions.

In recent weeks, The Guardian published a detailed investigative report exposing massacres perpetrated by the militia against civilians, describing El Fasher as “a theater of organized ethnic cleansing targeting populations on the basis of identity.”

Similarly, Yale University’s Conflict Observatory revealed satellite imagery confirming the destruction of hundreds of villages around the city, the burning of markets and health centers, and the expansion of mass graves—grim evidence of a deepening catastrophe.

The Washington Post added its own field investigation, documenting the militia’s use of heavy weaponry in residential areas and systematic acts of killing, rape, and looting—clear violations of the Geneva Conventions that prohibit attacks on civilians during armed conflicts.

These reports are corroborated by alarming figures from the World Health Organization and Doctors Without Borders, highlighting the collapse of the health system and soaring death rates among women and children.

Even the militia’s deputy commander and official spokesperson have publicly admitted to “violations and excesses”—a confession that removes any pretext for international silence.

When Silence Equals Complicity

Despite the mountain of evidence, the international response remains limited to rhetorical condemnation. No concrete action has been taken to halt the massacres or impose accountability. The rebel forces continue to receive open logistical support through corridors such as Adré, while their crimes escalate unchecked.

No official terrorist designation has been issued, no individual or collective sanctions enforced, and no serious legal proceedings initiated before the International Criminal Court.

This silence can only be understood as deliberate political paralysis—or worse, unspoken complicity—driven by intersecting regional and international interests. The U.S., the European Union, and the UN Security Council are fully aware of what is happening in Darfur, yet they limit themselves to vague statements urging “restraint” and “inclusive dialogue.”

Such statements are morally void—press releases without substance, incapable of halting a genocide. The chasm between the magnitude of the tragedy and the international response has shattered what little trust remains in the global human rights system.

The Roots of International Paralysis

1. Intersecting Regional and Global Interests:
Major powers view Sudan not as a humanitarian crisis, but as a geopolitical chessboard—competing for ports, minerals, and influence along the Red Sea. Some Western-aligned states see the militia as a proxy to advance their regional agendas, deterring any moves toward sanctioning or labeling it as terrorist.

2. Weakness Within International Institutions:
The UN Security Council remains paralyzed by veto politics and competing interests, while the Human Rights Council and the ICC are crippled by politicization and the absence of consensus over the nature of the conflict.

3. Double Standards:
What qualifies as “terrorism” in one region is reframed as an “internal conflict” in another—depending on the victims’ identity and geography. This hypocrisy has turned international law into an instrument of selective justice, applied only when convenient.

The Gap Between Law and Reality

Article (3) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: “Everyone has the right to life, liberty, and security of person.”
But what does that mean in El Fasher? In a besieged city where children die of hunger, women are violated, and men are executed in the streets, the right to life exists only in documentaries—not in reality.

The Geneva Conventions obligate all parties in conflict to protect civilians and ensure humanitarian access—yet the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) treat these provisions as mere suggestions. Meanwhile, international organizations move at a glacial pace, as if time in Darfur is measured by anything other than human lives.

El Fasher and the Collapse of Global Conscience

In 2003, Darfur marked one of Africa’s worst humanitarian tragedies. The UN deployed UNAMID, yet the world learned nothing. Today, history repeats itself—more brutally than before. Entire cities erased, populations displaced, children born stateless beneath tents without food, medicine, or shelter.

The images from El Fasher resemble, and in some respects surpass, those of Bosnia, Srebrenica, and Rwanda. But this time, the world does not move. It merely watches. This is not just a Sudanese tragedy—it is the collapse of global conscience.

Because the victims do not belong to the Western sphere of influence, their suffering elicits no urgency. It is as though Sudan is being deliberately torn apart while the world looks away.

The U.S. Dilemma: Between Ethics and Interests

It is striking that some members of the U.S. Congress have called for the RSF to be designated a terrorist organization, while the executive branch hesitates. The White House fears that such a move could strain covert lines of communication with certain capitals—chief among them Abu Dhabi—that support the militia.

This hesitation places Washington in an ethically untenable position: proclaiming commitment to human rights while overlooking crimes that clearly constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Sudan must therefore engage Washington with active, intelligent diplomacy—one that speaks the language of shared interests. Supporting the Sudanese state is not charity; it is an investment in regional stability across the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea corridor, which ultimately serves U.S. security interests as well.

What Comes After Silence?

The continued inaction of the international community does not merely allow impunity—it institutionalizes it. Seeing the world’s silence, the militia grows bolder, treating international law as theater without an audience.

This creates a vicious cycle: silence breeds atrocity, atrocity deepens silence—until blood becomes the sole language of politics.

El Fasher today is not just a Sudanese tragedy; it is a moral test for humanity itself. Does human life in Sudan still hold any value in the scales of global justice?

Sudan urgently needs an independent national judiciary to document, investigate, and prosecute these crimes—by name, date, and evidence—ensuring that justice remains a sovereign national act rather than an imported agenda.

Conclusion: When Justice Dies, Peace Cannot Be Born

Justice is not a legal luxury nor a political slogan—it is the moral foundation of any possible peace. Unless the world acts to hold perpetrators accountable and halt external support for the militia, the war will persist, and history will record that Darfur fell twice: once when it burned, and once when the world stayed silent.

The gap between international ideals and ground reality has become a global moral scandal. While slogans of “the right to life” are raised, civilians in El Fasher die of thirst, hunger, and terror. As world capitals boast of “a rules-based international order,” that order collapses at the gates of El Fasher.

What is happening in western Sudan is not merely a struggle for power—it is a battle for the meaning of justice and the dignity of a nation.
If the perpetrators go unpunished and the rebellion remains unclassified as terrorism, then the entire world has surrendered its humanity.

When justice dies in El Fasher, peace will not be born anywhere else.
And yet, the Sudanese people’s national awakening—inside and abroad—stands ready to resist, to triumph, and to write a new chapter of victory born from their unmatched resilience and sacrifice.