European nations to form atrocity prevention coalition for Sudan after UN report
A group of western nations intend to form an atrocity prevention coalition for Sudan following a scathing UN report that concluded the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary committed genocide during hostilities in Darfur late last year.
On Thursday, the foreign ministers of the United Kingdom, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands and Norway appeared to endorse the conclusions of the UN fact-finding mission on Sudan, which accused the RSF of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide primarily targeting non-Arab communities in the North Darfur capital el-Fasher during its 18-month siege and capture of the city in October.
The five European states are members of the Sudan Core Group at the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council, an informal coalition of states that leads on drafting and advancing resolutions addressing the human rights situation in Sudan.
In their statement, the countries noted the UN report’s warning of the risk of further genocidal conduct in the absence of preventive measures and accountability.
“We, the international community, must redouble our efforts to prevent a repeat of the atrocities committed in el-Fasher, and the Sudan Core Group calls on the parties to the conflict to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law,” they wrote.
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“We implore all states to consider closely the important recommendations the report lays out: Civilians must be protected; the UN arms embargo must be expanded and enforced; and restrictions of humanitarian access and accountability mechanisms must end.”
The report by the UN fact-finding mission for Sudan marked the first time UN investigators concluded that the RSF had committed the crime of genocide.
Previous reports had accused both the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) of war crimes and crimes against humanity during the war, which broke out in April 2023. This time, however, UN experts determined that the RSF has the intent to destroy the non-Arab communities of Fur and Zaghawa “in whole or in part”, and that they committed at least three genocidal acts prohibited under the Genocide Convention and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Under international law, states have a legal obligation to prevent genocide when the risk of the atrocity becomes apparent.
UN investigators have warned that the RSF is using the same modus operandi in its operations following the fall of el-Fasher, particularly in Kordofan, and that the risk of genocide in other areas remains acute.
The UK government, however, has so far failed to endorse the conclusion of the fact-finding mission with respect to the crime of genocide. In her statement commenting on the report, British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper avoided using the term genocide, although it was the core finding of the report.
When approached by Middle East Eye for comment, a foreign office spokesperson said that any official determination of genocide is a matter for a competent national or international court to decide, as has been the stance on Gaza.
The UN report, officially launched on Thursday in Geneva, recommended the establishment of an independent justice mechanism to ensure accountability for atrocities in el-Fasher and Darfur more generally.
Mona Rishmawi, a member of the fact-finding mission that authored the report, told MEE last week that such a mechanism could take the form of an ad hoc or hybrid Sudanese-UN international tribunal and could work in tandem with the ICC.
“This report is a call to action,” the five nations said. “In response - the Sudan Core Group announces its intention to establish a coalition of likeminded states and regional institutions committed to working together to prevent further atrocities in Sudan and support the Sudanese people to lay the foundations for eventual justice. They have waited long enough.”
'Impunity fuelled the war'
The ongoing conflict between the RSF and SAF has killed tens of thousands of civilians, displaced over 11 million people and caused what the UN describes as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Mediation efforts have so far failed to negotiate a ceasefire.
On Thursday, the UN’s human rights chief, Volker Turk, said that breaches of international law have continued to surge in Sudan in the absence of accountability. Civilian killings in 2025 more than doubled compared to the previous year, he told the Human Rights Council as he presented the latest report by his office documenting atrocities in el-Fasher.
"All those responsible for violations of international humanitarian and human rights law - regardless of rank or affiliation - must be held to account," he said. "Impunity has fuelled this violence for far too long."
Turk recommended that the UN Security Council refer the situation in Sudan, not just in Darfur, to the ICC.
The Hague-based court has jurisdiction over Darfur under a 2005 Security Council referral.
Last month, the ICC’s deputy prosecutor said her office is currently investigating the el-Fasher atrocities as well as the massacres committed by the RSF in el-Geneina in 2023.
Earlier this month, the Security Council’s Sudan sanctions committee expanded its Resolution 1591 sanctions regime to add four senior commanders of the RSF to the UN blacklist, imposing travel bans and global asset freezes for alleged atrocities committed during the RSF’s takeover of el-Fasher.
This followed the UK sanctions package on 5 February that targeted six individuals, including RSF field commander Hussein Barsham and recruiters of foreign mercenaries, under the British Sudan sanctions regime aimed at dismantling networks fuelling the conflict and human rights abuses in Darfur.
Although it denies the charges, there is widespread evidence linking the United Arab Emirates, a key British ally, to the supply of arms and other goods to the RSF.
MEE has reported extensively on the supply lines used by the UAE to arm the RSF. The UK has not explicitly condemned the UAE's role in the war.
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