Sudan officially announced its rejection of the US State Department’s accusation of its army committing war crimes, and considered it “baseless.”
On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that his country formally determined that warring parties in Sudan committed war crimes.
He added that Washington also determined that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied militias committed crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing.
“The expansion of the needless conflict between RSF and the SAF has caused grievous human suffering,” Blinken said, referring to the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF).
He called on the parties to “stop this conflict now, comply with their obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law, and hold accountable those responsible for atrocities.”
In a statement on Thursday, the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomed the US move to accuse the “rebel militia” of committing crimes against humanity, including “crimes of ethnic cleansing, crimes of sexual violence, attacking and kidnapping women and girls, and targeting displaced persons and those fleeing the fighting.”
However, the ministry expressed its rejection of the US war crimes accusations against the Sudanese army, saying that they were baseless.
Those are “indiscriminate allegations that equate the armed forces with the rebel militia that is responsible for unleashing horrific violence, death and destruction... These practices are exclusive to the rebel militia... and accusing the armed forces of such actions is not based on any evidence,” the statement underlined.
The ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the US statement ignored “the duty and right of the Armed Forces, the legitimate national army, to defend the country and the people and protect the headquarters of its leadership,” in the face of an “aggression targeting the foundations of life and the country’s sovereignty...”
