- United States
- Fla.
- Letter
The situation in El Fasher, Darfur is rapidly deteriorating and risks spiraling into genocide if urgent action is not taken. Time is of the essence to prevent widespread atrocities and mass civilian displacement. Credible reports indicate the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia are poised to assault the city, which has become a refuge for 500,000 displaced civilians already suffering from famine and lack of healthcare. A brutal battle for control would pit the Arab RSF against local Fur and Zaghawa tribes aligned with the Sudan Armed Forces, transforming this into an ethnic conflict with regional destabilizing effects. An RSF victory would cement their control over Darfur, providing a base to further undermine any central authority and facilitate illicit economy activities like arms trafficking across borders. Critically, it threatens to unleash the kinds of atrocities and ethnic violence that defined the genocide twenty years ago. The United States must elevate this crisis through high-level diplomacy and the mobilization of an international response. Specific steps should include emergency UN Security Council session to threaten multilateral sanctions on the RSF and suppliers like the UAE, activating US atrocity prevention mechanisms, direct US sanctions on RSF leadership, and laying the groundwork for a protection force to monitor and deter violence against civilians. Preventing another Darfur genocide requires decisive actions now before it's too late.