Biden calls for an end to 'senseless war' amid famine, rape, violence in Sudan

El Fasher, Darfur — Bringing the plight of the Sudanese people back to the forefront, President Joe Biden called for peace in the region Tuesday. 

"For over 17 long months, the Sudanese people have endured a senseless war that has created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises," Biden said in a statement. "Nearly 10 million people have been displaced by this conflict. Women and girls have been kidnapped and sexually assaulted. Famine has taken hold in Darfur, and is threatening millions more elsewhere."

Stating that violent history is repeating itself, Biden addressed the suffering of the nearly two million people living in the city of El Fasher. The capital of Sudan's North Darfur state, a civil war has raged in El Fasher for more than a year. 

"That siege has become a full-on assault in recent days," said Biden.

Biden called out the the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which are paramilitary organizations that began besieging the city in May. The collateral damage is nothing short of catastrophic, prompting U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield to express that she is “gravely concerned about reports of a serious escalation in RSF’s months-long siege on El Fasher” in a post on X. 

Sudan plunged into conflict in mid-April 2023, when long-simmering tensions between its military and paramilitary leaders broke out in the capital, Khartoum, and spread to Darfur and other regions. Tens of thousands of people have died in fighting.

Last week, World Food Program director Cindy McCain told The Associated Press her organization needs better access to people at risk of starvation in Sudan and more money from the crisis-weary West to feed more than 25 million people facing acute hunger.

"Sudan’s nearly a forgotten crisis right now," said McCain. "There are so many crises going on that people kind of just, you know, it’s just too much and their eyes glaze over," she added.

That concern was echoed by America's Special Envoy to Sudan Tom Perriello who said he is 'extremely concerned' by the RSF's repeated attacks on the North Darfur capital.