UN Report on Hallmarks of Genocide in Sudan

 The UN Human Rights Council published on 8 July 2026 a 26-page report titled "Information Supplementing the Report 'Sudan: Hallmarks of Genocide in El Fasher'."

This report provides detailed references not included in the initial 19 February 2026 report and additional information that the UN Human Rights Council gathered following continued investigations since the publication of the original report.  

It also helps develop the legal basis for the conclusions that were drawn in the original report, that the mass killings and related atrocities committed by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in and around El Fasher were indicators of a genocidal path.

Ethiopia: Tigray Is Under Siege Again

 Ethiopia Insight published on 20 February 2026 a commentary titled "Tigray Is Under Siege Again" by Kiros Nigus Thegay, a human rights advocate.

Siege-like conditions prevent Tigray Region from returning to normal. The author argues that the federal government is engaged in "weaponized starvation" and "economic sabotage."  

UN Report Suggests Rapid Support Forces Genocide in Sudan

 UN News published on 19 February 2026 an article titled "Sudan: 'Hallmarks of Genocide' Found in El Fasher, UN Investigators Detail Mass Killings and Ethnic Targeting" by Vibhu Mishra.

The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) carried out ethnically targeted killings, widespread sexual violence, and enforced disappearance during their late-October takeover of El Fasher in Sudan's Darfur Region.  They committed three underlying acts of genocide, which is the only reasonable inference you can take from the RSF killings.  

Rethinking Aid in Sudan and South Sudan

 The Rift Valley Institute published in 2026 a paper titled "Rethinking Aid in Sudan and South Sudan."

More than 30 grassroots and international non-governmental organizations convened in Kampala, Uganda, in November 2025 to discuss the future of development and humanitarian aid to Sudan and South Sudan in view of the dramatic contraction of assistance, especially as a result of the dismantlement of USAID.  They proposed numerous recommendations to deal with the crisis.  

Starvation Taking Hold in Darfur's Capital of El Fasher

 African Arguments posted on 26 August 2025 a commentary titled "El Fasher Is Sudan's Gaza as a Place of Mass Starvation" by Susanne Jaspars and Tamer Mohamed.

The siege of Darfur's capital of El Fasher by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has sharply limited the amount of food reaching the city.  As a result, starvation is taking hold.  

Sudan: Slashing of US Aid Contributes to Humanitarian Disaster

 The New York Times published on 19 April 2025 an article and photo spread titled "Trump's Aid Cuts Hit the Hungry in a City of Shellfire and Starvation" by Declan Walsh and Ivor Prickett. 

Within days of the dismantling of USAID by the Trump administration, over 300 soup kitchens run by Emergency Response Rooms, a network of democracy activists turned volunteer aid workers, were forced to close.  Aid groups on the ground in Sudan say the flow of American money stopped two months ago and USAID officials who helped make the payments have been fired.  

Starvation as a Weapon of War: Lessons from Ethiopia's Tigray Conflict

 Stimson published on 24 February 2025 a study titled "Preventing Starvation Crimes: Lessons Learned from Tigray" by Shane Goetz.

The international community failed to prevent mass starvation during Ethiopia's civil war centered in Tigray Region in spite of a UN Security Council resolution designed to avoid this situation.  The study concludes that the resolution lacks the tools to generate preventative action and early response to conflict-induced hunger crises or to hold parties accountable for the use of starvation as a method of warfare.

Increasing Famine and Food Insecurity in Sudan

 The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification published on 24 December 2024 a report titled "Sudan: Acute Food Insecurity Snapshot."

Twenty months into the conflict, Sudan continues to slide into a widening famine crisis characterized by widespread starvation and a significant surge in acute malnutrition.  The situation marks a widening of the food and nutrition crisis, driven by the devastating conflict, which has triggered mass displacement, a collapsing economy, the breakdown of essential social services, and severe societal disruption, combined with poor humanitarian access, food insecurity and malnutrition.  

Sudan: Realities of Peacemaking Efforts Going Forward

 The Royal United Services Institute published on 11 September 2024 a commentary titled "Sudan's Nadir? Pressing Needs and New Realities" by Michael Jones.

The conflict in Sudan is contributing to new power dynamics throughout the region that will likely define the scope and durability of any peacemaking effort going forward.  

UN Fact Finding Mission Calls for Neutral Force to Defend Civilians in Sudan

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights published on 6 September 2024 a press release titled "Sudan: UN Fact-Finding Mission Outlines Extensive Human Rights Violations, International Crimes, Urges Protection of Civilians." 

The three experts from Tanzania, Nigeria, and Jordan/Switzerland found an appalling range of human rights violations and international crimes in Sudan and called for immediate steps to protect civilians.  The experts were especially critical of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.  They underscored the need to expand the arms embargo in Darfur and the immediate need to create "an independent and impartial force with a mandate to safeguard civilians."

The Associated Press published on 6 September 2024 an article titled "UN Investigators Urge Impartial Force as Sudan War Crimes Intensify." 

The article reports on the UN Fact-Finding Mission press release but points out that the experts did not specify which countries are complicit in war crimes nor suggest which countries might join a neutral force to protect civilians in Sudan.

Sudan Peace Process Appears Stalled Again

 The Associated Press published on 12 August 2024 an article titled "The UN Says Sudan Is at a 'Breaking Point.'  Its Military Hasn't Committed to Peace Talks This Week" by Jamey Keaten and Samy Magdy.

The Sudanese military has not committed to peace talks this week in Switzerland brokered by the United States and Saudi Arabia. Sudan is the world's largest displacement crisis and starvation now exists in part of Darfur region.

Role of the United Arab Emirates in the Sudan Conflict

 Foreign Affairs posted on 31 July 2024 an article titled "The UAE's Secret War in Sudan: How International Pressure Can Stop the Genocidal Violence" by John Prendergast and Anthony Lake.

The external country that bears most of the responsibility for Sudan's starvation and ethnic cleansing is the United Arab Emirates, which supports the genocidal attacks on civilians in Darfur and other regions by the Rapid Support Forces.

Sudan Factions Hinder Humanitarian Access So Innocent People Suffer

 The New York Times published on 26 July 2024 an article titled "As Starvation Spreads in Sudan, Military Blocks Aid Trucks at Border" by Declan Walsh and Ivor Prickett.  

In an effort to prevent arms from reaching its rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF) from across the Chad border, the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) has instructed the United Nations not to send humanitarian relief trucks through check points controlled by the RSF.  They must make a 200-mile detour to a border crossing controlled by a local militia allied with the SAF, significantly complicating the distribution of humanitarian aid.  

UN Stats on Starvation in Sudan

 Aljazeera published on 27 June 2024 an article titled "Over 750,000 People in Sudan at Risk of Starvation: Global Hunger Monitor."

The United Nations hunger monitoring system, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, said on 27 June that 755,000 people in Sudan are facing "catastrophe", the most severe level of extreme hunger.  Another 8.5 million, or 18 percent of the population, deal with food shortages that could result in acute malnutrition and death.  About 26 million people are likely to experience high levels of acute food insecurity between June and September.  

Sudan Faces Starvation Crisis If Not Official Famine

 The International Crisis Group posted on 26 June a 32-minute podcast titled "Sudan Is Starving, Now What?" with Alex de Waal, executive director of the World Peace Foundation, interviewed by Alan Boswell.

Alex de Waal, who has followed Sudan for decades, warned not to get caught up in the official definition of famine as the problem may be the absence of good data to make such a declaration.  In any event, there is a starvation crisis in Sudan.  The most affected region is Darfur, but the entire country is facing a food crisis.

The Sudan Armed Forces, serving as the recognized government of Sudan, is blocking a famine declaration and even using it as a weapon.  The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, for its part, is nothing more than a "pillage machine."  The result is a country that has become a "complex catastrophe" with numerous causes.  

Another Warning of Possible Starvation in Sudan

 CBS News posted on 25 June 2024 an article titled "Sudan's Raging Civil War Could See 2 Million Starve to Death.  Aid Agency Says 'the World Is Not Watching'" by Sarah Carter.

The International Rescue Committee's country director for Sudan said the war-torn country is on the brink of a "catastrophe of historic scale" and that 2 million people could die of hunger-related causes if the situation does not improve.  

Sudanese Refugees and IDPs: War or Starvation?

 Aljazeera published on 18 June 2024 an article titled "Starving to Death Is as Scary as the War for Sudanese Refugees" by Mat Nashed.

Three quarters of a million Sudanese refugees are facing "catastrophic levels of hunger" and more than 25 million, including many internally displaced, are facing acute food shortages.  The other option is to remain in a war zone.  These people have a Hobson's choice.  

Sudan's Humanitarian Crisis: Spreading the Blame

 Foreign Affairs published on 17 June 2024 a commentary titled "Sudan's Manmade Famine: How the United States and Its Gulf Partners Are Enabling Mass Starvation" by Alex de Waal.

The author argues that it is up to the United States and its Western allies to pressure Saudi Arabia and the UAE, who have considerable leverage over the belligerents in Sudan, to demand that the Sudan Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces allow for the unimpeded distribution of food aid in order to forestall starvation.

Comment:  While the commentary makes a number of important and valid points, it is exasperating that most of the blame for this situation falls on the United States and its Western allies.  Is there no role for China, India, the African Union, and even the individual 54 (minus Sudan) African countries that vote in the UN General Assembly?  Why does the author give most of the rest of the world a pass?

Nor is there any mention in the commentary that the United States, the European Union, and its member states provide overwhelmingly the food aid that does reach Sudan and Sudanese refugees.  The United States alone has provided $968 million in humanitarian aid to Sudan since September 2023.  The rest of the world outside the EU has been largely absent.

It's time for more balance when playing the blame game.  

Is There Any End In Sight to War in Sudan?

 Aljazeera's Inside Story posted on 9 June 2024 a 28-minute video titled "What Will Bring an End to the Conflict in Sudan?" with a panel of three experts.

The panelists agreed there are no winners in Sudan and the big losers are the Sudanese people.  Both the Sudan Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces are using starvation as a weapon. One of the panelists suggested the African Standby Force and units from certain Arab countries could step in and provide security in Sudan.  

New Lines Institute Report Alleges Genocide in Ethiopia's Tigray Region

 The Washington-based New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy published in June 2024 a 120-page report titled "Genocide in Tigray: Serious Breaches of International Law in the Tigray Conflict, Ethiopia, and Paths to Accountability."  The Washington Institute for Education and Research funds the New Lines Institute whose president and founder is Ahmed Alwani, a businessman based in northern Virginia.  

The document concludes there are multiple, widespread and credible independent reports that the conduct throughout Ethiopia of the federal Ethiopian National Defence Force (ENDF) on behalf of Ethiopia, Amhara regional armed forces and/or Fano militia and loyal groups, the Eritrean Defence Forces (EDF), as well as the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front (TPLF), Tigray Defence Forces (TPLF) and those loyal to them, violated international humanitarian law and international human rights law.

There is reasonable basis to believe that such violations amount to the commission of war crimes and/or crimes against humanity.  The report also concludes there is a reasonable basis to believe that members of the ENDF, the Amhara Special Forces, and the EDF committed genocide against Tigrayans.