On Wednesday, one of the world’s worst conflicts entered its third year with no end in sight. Attending the Sudan London conference this week, the Kenya Government struggled to refute accusations of its support for the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and that it has developed economic interests.
Sudan is a major casualty of world leaders’ inability to look beyond Ukraine and Palestine. Consistently ignored, the international community has enabled the world’s biggest humanitarian disaster. 150,000 people, twice more than Ukraine (67,000) and three times more than Gaza (52,000), have been killed. Over 11 million people, a third of the entire populations of Ukraine (38 million) and Gaza (2 million) combined, are on the run. Despite all this, only 6 per cent of the US 4.2 million dollars in humanitarian assistance needed has been found.
Released this week, Amnesty International’s “They Raped All of Us” 34-page report documents 16 cases of sexual assault, rape, gang rape, sexual slavery and robbery against 42 women by soldiers under RSF command. These crimes took place often in the presence of family members. The use of torture and cruel inhuman treatment included the use of sharp knives and pouring hot liquids on their bodies.
Most survivors still suffer from psychological trauma resulting in recurring pain, memory loss and irregular periods. Stigmatized by society, fearful of retribution and unable to access health and psychosocial services, these women continue to walk wounded.
The true injustice is not that the compulsive brutality in Sudan has failed to drive its leaders to a ceasefire, but that Africa and the global community have repeatedly failed to hold perpetrators of genocide accountable. Since the Janjaweed (a predecessor to the RSF) became infamous for conflict related sexual violence in 2004, tens of thousands of people have been killed, and hundreds of women and girls have been raped by RAF and RSF soldiers.
While the mass violence eventually led to the International Criminal Court charging the former Sudan president Omar Bashir for three counts of genocide and crimes against humanity, no state, Kenya included, had the guts to hand him over. Ultimately, it is impunity and the lack of accountability that is responsible for the current abuse.
The SAF recapture of greater Khartoum and the Presidential palace last month offers a new opportunity for peace, reconciliation and justice. As a Liberian Charles Taylor famously told the BBC in the 1980s, by seizing Monrovia, the rebels became the government, and a new status quo is in place.
The RSF and SAF must urgently come to the peace table. The RSF must stop this sexual violence and all other attacks on civilians. Emergency assistance must be accelerated and the UN and AU provided with unfettered humanitarian and monitoring access. The call for accountability must get louder in neighboring capitals and those gilded five-star AU and UN summit rooms. The current arms embargo must be enforced and expand from Darfur to all of Sudan.
The Kenya Government must disentangle itself from the controversy caused by the hosting of RSF and 24 allies to sign a transitional constitution last month and former Deputy President Gachagua’s shocking public allegations that President Ruto is personally gold trading with RSF leader Hemedti Dagalo.
Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi’s dismissal of these allegations this week is not enough to restore international confidence as impartial or resume the Sh 6.2 billion of exports frozen by Sudan last month. International justice would have been served better by arresting rather than facilitating RSF leaders on Kenyan soil.
Other parties also need to step up. The conflict has persisted with Saudi Arabia and Egypt backing for the SAF and United Arab Emirates backing for the RSF. Without a military weapons ban, and decisive negotiations, impunity and mass misery will persist.
Kenyan citizens, our Sudan ban affected tea, tobacco and seed oil industry and the National Assembly need to pay closer attention to the role we are currently playing. We must act unequivocally in solidarity with the people of Sudan.
Irũngũ Houghton is Amnesty International Kenya Executive Director and writes in his personal capacity. Email: [email protected]