The participants at the Civil Society Consultative Meeting on Sudan held within the context of the 37th Session of the AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government are utterly disturbed by the deteriorating human rights and humanitarian situation in Sudan. It is a matter of grave concern that the armed confrontations that pit the Sudanese Armed Forces, and the Rapid Support Forces and the militia groups associated with each one of the two parties are continuing unabated, which poses serious security risks to millions of Sudanese civilians trapped in the crossfire lines and fighting zones all over the country.
The ongoing senseless military confrontations have caused the death of at least 20,000 individuals, displaced more than 8 million civilians within and outside Sudan, rendered more than 20 million people hungry, and that about 70% of healthcare facilities in the conflict-ridden areas are no longer functional.
The warring parties are committing multiple crimes against civilians, including, but not limited to, extrajudicial or summary executions, arbitrary arrests and detention, torture, ill-treatment and enforced disappearances, sexual and gender-based violence, violations of freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, particularly affecting peace activists and humanitarian workers. More often than not, these crimes, which constitute violations of the rights guaranteed by the African Union Constitutive Act and other legal instruments to which Sudan is a state party, are carried out on ethnic and geographic backgrounds, particularly targeting people from the greater Darfur and Kordofan states.
The humanitarian situation has been degrading rapidly and now millions of Sudanese citizens are facing deadly famine, especially in Darfur. Graphic images of the skeletal bodies of acutely malnourished children are emerging in the social media every day at a time when considerable amounts of donated relief material are stored in Sudanese ports under the control of the military authority. It is totally unacceptable that the Sudanese military authority continues to ignore the warning signals sent by highly recognized authorities on human rights and humanitarian matters, including the statement issued by 30 international human rights mandate holders on 05 February 2024.
Meanwhile, we are profoundly dismayed to notice that the dire humanitarian conditions and dangerous security situation in Sudan are not accorded the particular attention they merit on the agenda of the 37th Ordinary Session of the AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government. Nevertheless, we call on African Heads of State and Government attending this session of the AU Assembly to:
- Condemn the going violence and military confrontations between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and their associates and call for immediate and unconditional ceasefire by the warring parties as a prerequisite for political talks to bring a definitive end to the current conflict.
- Activate Article 4 of the AU Constitutive Act and authorize the dispatch of a military force to end the massive violations of human rights and humanitarian law, including war crimes, crimes against humanity and acts of ethnic cleansing taking place in Sudan.
- Take immediate measures to ensure the creation of humanitarian corridors so that the necessary relief material reaches the needy populations without delay, especially in Darfur.
- Mobilize African states and international actors to bring pressure to bear on the warring parties use all measures in its power to compel the leaders of the warring parties to put an immediate end to the conflict and to put in place a mechanism for monitoring, documenting and reporting on the perpetration of human rights and international humanitarian law violations by the warring parties including with particular attention to the situation in Darfur.