U.S. Pushes For Sudan Ceasefire As Mass Killings, Famine Fears And Christian Persecution Grow

by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Chief International Correspondent

WASHINGTON/GENEVA/EL FASHER (Worthy News) – U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has urged an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Sudan as the civil war intensifies and minority Christians report escalating persecution amid mass killings, rape, abductions, and other atrocities.

Rubio said he raised the appeal in a call Friday with United Arab Emirates (UAE) Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, days after warning that weapons flows to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) must be stopped as the paramilitary group advances across the country.

The nearly three-year conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF has created what the United Nations calls the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, displacing at least 12.5 million people before the fall of El Fasher — and another 140,000 since.

Sudan’s army accuses the UAE of arming the RSF, allegations supported by UN experts and several U.S. lawmakers. UAE Ambassador Jamal Al Musharakh rejected the claims, insisting his country does not help either side.

UAE DENIES ARMING RSF

Rubio avoided naming the UAE directly but confirmed that Washington is applying pressure on “relevant parties,” adding: “This needs to stop.” He did not rule out designating the RSF a terrorist organization if it would help end the conflict.

At a special session on Friday, the UN Human Rights Council approved — without a vote — a resolution launching an independent fact-finding mission into alleged atrocities in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, captured by the RSF on October 26.

Satellite imagery, survivor testimony, and videos suggest more than 1,500 civilians were killed, many in ethnically targeted massacres. Tens of thousands remain unaccounted for amid fears they were killed, abducted, or left stranded without food or medical care.

The UN’s migration agency, IOM, warned that humanitarian operations are “on the brink of collapse” as warehouses empty and aid convoys face attacks. Doctors Without Borders reported “staggering” malnutrition rates, with more than 70 percent of children under five arriving in displacement camps suffering acute malnutrition.

ATROCITIES AND TARGETED VIOLENCE

Witnesses told Reuters they saw RSF fighters machine-gunning civilians, running over bodies with vehicles, and killing dozens in the streets. Aid workers report widespread rape, abductions, and looting, with UN Women warning that sexual violence is being used “systematically as a weapon of war.”

The RSF has repeatedly targeted non-Arab, darker-skinned communities, echoing earlier Darfur massacres that the International Criminal Court says bear the hallmarks of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Though Christians make up only a small minority in overwhelmingly Muslim Sudan, church networks and rights groups say they have been hit disproportionately hard by the escalating conflict.

Believers report that churches in Khartoum, Omdurman, and Darfur have been burned, looted, or occupied by armed groups. Several pastors have been attacked or abducted, and Christian families in contested areas say they are being singled out as “outsiders” or suspected sympathizers of Western nations.

CHRISTIANS CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE

In areas under RSF control, evangelicals and South Sudanese Christians face severe danger and often cannot move safely to obtain food, water, or medical care, according to investigators. Many displaced Christians lack access to Bibles, worship gatherings, and humanitarian assistance, with some aid distribution reportedly controlled by militias hostile to non-Muslims, Worthy News learned.

Christian advocates warn that the current chaos marks “the worst environment for believers since Sudan’s Islamist dictatorship.”

The United States says it is working with regional partners to pressure both sides into a ceasefire, but violence continues to spread. UN investigators say they are gathering evidence for future accountability while famine conditions worsen.

Sudan’s war, now entering its third year, has engulfed the wider Darfur region, starved millions, and left Christians and ethnic minorities especially vulnerable.

“This needs to stop,” Rubio said — a plea echoed by countless Sudanese civilians, both Muslim and Christian.

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