US condemns Sudan’s RSF for attacks on civilians, calls for accountability

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Trump administration on Tuesday condemned attacks by Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on civilians in North Darfur and called for parties in the country’s civil war to be held accountable for breaches of international humanitarian law.

“We are deeply alarmed by reports the RSF has deliberately targeted civilians and humanitarian actors in Zamzam and Abu Shouk,” U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce told reporters, referring to two camps in the region where hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced in recent days, according to the U.N.

“The belligerents must uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law and must be held accountable,” Bruce added.

The war in Sudan erupted in April 2023, sparked by a power struggle between the army and Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces, shattering hopes for a transition to civilian rule.

The warring parties should put down their guns and negotiate a durable peace, said Bruce, who declined to say if the U.S. was conducting diplomacy toward a settlement.

Bruce also declined to say whether the Trump administration agreed with a finding by the State Department under former President Joe Biden that the RSF and allied militias have committed genocide in the conflict.

(Reporting by Simon Lewis and Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Sandra Maler)