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UK and allies are deeply concerned over continued Rapid Support Forces (RSF) drone attacks targeting civilian infrastructure in El Obeid, Sudan. The UK, alongside France, Germany, Netherlands, Ireland, Italy and Norway have released a joint statement calling for an immediate halt to escalating violence in El Obeid, Sudan.
In the past 24 hours, drone strikes and attacks on critical civilian infrastructure have continued to escalate. Key supply routes across North Kordofan and White Nile states have been hit, alongside fuel stations and electricity lines, cutting off access to basic services for over 500,000 people – including 200,000 internally displaced people already forced to flee elsewhere in Sudan.
The fighting has already caused huge numbers of civilian casualties and is raising urgent fears of a major escalation and a heightened risk of atrocities.
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said:
Last year, the world watched in horror as the Rapid Support Forces raped, pillaged, and murdered their way through El Fasher – leaving nothing but devastation and death in their wake. This cannot be repeated.
El Obeid is on the precipice of an atrocity that will deepen the wounds already inflicted on Sudan in El Fasher.
I’ve met survivors of El Fasher, haunted by the trauma they went through. We cannot let this happen again.
The UK and allies have warned that as rainy season approaches, continued attacks on fuel infrastructure risk worsening food shortages and plunging the region into darkness due to limited electricity supplies. The Foreign Secretary has also made clear that any human rights violations in El Obeid will weaken the pathway to a credible political process and lasting peace.
Today’s joint statement follows on-going support from the UK, working closely with several other countries, to establish a path out of the conflict.
The UK has also galvanised support for Sudan at the United Nations Security Council to mobilise international efforts to bring the war to an end. On 20 June, the UK worked closely with partners on the UN Security Council to raise the alarm over the fraught situation at El Obeid, pressing for the warring parties to end the fighting, to protect civilians, and for unimpeded humanitarian access.
The UK continues to engage with international partners, urging those with influence to press the RSF to pull back and bring all parties to the negotiating table. The Foreign Secretary has personally raised this with counterparts in Egypt during her recent visit to Cairo, as well as with partners in the UAE and the United States.
In April, during the International Sudan Conference in Berlin, the UK announced £146 million in humanitarian support for Sudan, increased funding for local aid groups to £15 million, and doubled funding to groups who document and investigate human rights violations.
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