Medical personnel and the wounded have not been spared, Cooper said, with survivors reporting sexual violence inflicted in front of relatives, including children…reports Asian Lite News
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper has called on the UN Security Council to face up to what she termed the world’s “catastrophic failure” in Sudan, citing a report detailing alleged atrocities including executions, sexual violence and attacks on hospitals. As the UK holds the rotating presidency of the Security Council this month, Cooper urged member states to enforce arms restrictions, impose further sanctions, and exert maximum pressure on both warring factions to halt the conflict.
Cooper drew on evidence from a fact-finding mission report on atrocities in El-Fasher, published on the day of her address, which was commissioned by the UK. The Sudanese city has been the centre of brutal violence during the civil war that began in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces. Setting out the scale of the documented violations, Cooper cited accounts of “indiscriminate shootings, point-blank executions of civilians in homes, streets, open areas or while attempting to flee the city.”
The Foreign Secretary highlighted specific cases documented in the report. In one incident, she stated: “A pregnant woman was asked how far she was in her pregnancy. When she responded ‘seven months,’ he fired seven bullets into her abdomen, killing her.” According to Cooper’s account, the fact-finding mission concluded that the atrocities documented “bear the hallmarks of genocide.” She emphasised that El-Fasher “should have been a turning point. Instead, the violence now is continuing.”
Medical personnel and the wounded have not been spared, Cooper said, with survivors reporting sexual violence inflicted in front of relatives, including children. More than three months after the fall of the city, reports of violations of international humanitarian law and human rights abuses persist. Hospitals, markets, schools and humanitarian convoys, including those operated by the World Food Programme, have faced attacks from both military factions. Since the start of the month alone, there have been reports of strikes on aid operations by both the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, according to Cooper’s account.
Cooper drew on observations from a recent visit to the Chad-Sudan border to underscore the human scale of the crisis. In a camp of over 140,000 displaced people, she noted that 85 percent were women and children. A Sudanese community worker told her that “half, more than half, the women in the camp had been subjected to sexual violence,” according to Cooper’s statement. She recounted the case of three sisters who arrived at a Sudanese emergency response room having been raped, with the oldest aged 13 and the youngest eight years old. “There is a war being waged on the bodies of women and girls,” Cooper said. “The world must hear the voices of the women of Sudan and not the military men who are perpetuating this conflict.”
The Foreign Secretary described the conflict as “the worst humanitarian crisis of the 21st Century,” with 33 million people requiring assistance, 14 million displaced from their homes, and famine affecting millions of malnourished children. She warned of broader regional implications, citing destabilisation across the Horn of Africa and the Sahel, opportunities for extremist groups to exploit the instability, and migration pressures that could affect Europe.
Cooper commended international diplomatic efforts, including US-led initiatives to engage regional powers such as Egypt, the UAE and Saudi Arabia in peace discussions. She also acknowledged support from the African Union and the European Union. However, she said the international community needed to do more. “We will need pressure from every UN member state,” she stated. “I urge all of those with influence on both the RSF and the SAF not to fuel further conflict, but instead to exert maximum pressure on them to halt the bloodshed.”
Addressing what she identified as a key obstacle to peace, Cooper said: “The reason that the military men still convince themselves there is a military solution is because they can still obtain ever-more lethal weapons.” She called for stronger enforcement and expansion of arms restrictions, stating “Now is the time to choke off the arms flows and exert tangible pressure for peace.”
Cooper also called for increased accountability mechanisms, advocating for additional sanctions against those responsible for atrocities. The UK has already imposed sanctions on senior RSF commanders linked to the El-Fasher atrocities and has joined the US and France in proposing their designation by the Security Council.
Drawing a parallel to recent diplomatic efforts elsewhere, Cooper said: “We need that same energy and determination to bring peace for Sudan so we can secure an immediate ceasefire, humanitarian truce, and so that those responsible for atrocities are held to account.” She concluded by urging global action: “Let this be the time that the world comes together to end the cycle of bloodshed and to pursue a path to peace.”
