RSF Attacks on Embassies and Organizations: Will the World Remain Silent?

Report – Sudan Events

In Sudan, with the expansion of the Rapid Support Militia’s (RSF) violations, a Sudanese government committee revealed last week that it was intending to issue a resolution from the UN Security Council to classify the RSF, which have been fighting with the Sudanese army since mid-last April, as a terrorist organization.

The militia challenges

The “National Commission on War Crimes and Violations of the Rapid Support Forces” said in its statement that a legal memorandum is being prepared, signed by the Attorney General of the Republic of Sudan, who also serves as Chairman of the Commission, that includes the violations committed by the RSF since the outbreak of fighting, but before the “ink with which the memorandum is drafted dries”, The militia surprised the international community with a new flagrant violation of international laws, as two relief groups suspended their operations in Sudan, specifically in Gezira State, which is about 170 kilometers, southeast of the capital, Khartoum,
after their facilities were looted by the RSF Militia, that took control of the city on December 15th .
Food theft
The World Food Program (WFP) said yesterday that it was forced to stop distributing aid in Gezira State after a warehouse containing supplies sufficient for 1.5 million people for a month was looted by RSF Militia, and the Food Program was not the only one complaining. Doctors Without Borders Organization reported on two weeks ago that armed men attacked its compound in Wad Medani, the capital of Gezira State, on December 19 and stole two cars and other items. It wrote in a statement on the social media platform (X) that ” due to the insecurity, we suspend all medical activities in Medani and we evacuated our team to safer areas. It added, “We are concerned about the residents of Wad Medani who do not receive medical care or obtain necessary medications except to a limited extent.”

Why Medani stands out

The importance of Wad Medani even before the RSF militia attack, comes from its being a center and refuge for internally displaced people in a state that represents an important agricultural area in a country facing the specter of hunger and witnessing the largest displacement crisis in the world, as the International Organization for Migration said that the incursion on Wad Medani led to the displacement of up to 300,000 people from the area.

Attacks on embassies

The series of,(RSF) Militia attacks was not new today, as it was preceded by a number of attacks on the headquarters of diplomatic missions and embassies. On May 14, 2023, the rebel RSF Militia attacked and forcibly entered the headquarters of the following diplomatic missions:
1/Embassy of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
2/Embassy of the Republic of South Sudan.
3/Embassy of the Federal Republic of Somalia
4/Embassy of the Republic of Uganda
5/Military Attaché of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
6/Military Attaché of the State of Kuwait.
The rebel forces tampered with documents, destroyed furniture, and stole valuables, including computers and diplomatic cars, without regard to international law and customs concerned with the sanctity and protection of the headquarters and property of diplomatic missions.
On that day, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned, through a lengthy statement, this criminal and barbaric behavior of the rebel RSF Militia, and called on the international community to condemn it in the strongest terms, consider it a terrorist organization, and hold it legally and morally responsible before national and international justice mechanisms.
This was followed last October by a new attack on the Ethiopian embassy in Khartoum, which prompted the Sudanese army to issue a statement in which it said that the RSF is working to “target all diplomatic headquarters in Khartoum, plunder their property and attack their employees.” However, the militia tried to evade the accusation and attach it to the army, whose general commandership said that it has been keen since the beginning of the war to “observe international humanitarian law and ensure the safety of protected objects, including the headquarters of diplomatic missions accredited to the country.”

Waiting for classification

A repeated attack by the militia on the headquarters of international organizations, and it does not seem that it will stop unless Sudan’s repeated calls to classify the RSF Militia a terrorist organization are responded to. Will the world respond to this urgent repeated call?