WASHINGTON – Two senior U.S. officials accused the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of committing genocide in Sudan and urged the UN Security Council to expand the arms embargo to cover the entire country, arguing that stopping the flow of weapons is essential to ending the war and paving the way for a civilian-led peace process.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Michael Waltz and senior presidential adviser for Arab and African affairs Massad Boulos said in a joint article that the RSF and allied militias had committed genocide, including killing men and boys on an ethnic basis and carrying out widespread rape and sexual violence against women and girls.

They said the United Nations estimates that more than 12 million Sudanese women and girls are at risk of sexual violence.

The two officials also said the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) had committed atrocities during the war, adding that civilians have remained the main victims of the conflict, with infrastructure, health facilities, markets and aid routes targeted, and humanitarian assistance used as a tool of pressure against the population.

They warned that the war has entered a more dangerous phase with the expansion of drone warfare, saying drone attacks have caused a sharp rise in casualties while markets, hospitals, schools and aid convoys have become repeated targets.

The officials said Sudan is facing the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with more than 33 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, about 19.5 million facing acute hunger, more than 13 million displaced inside Sudan or forced to flee to neighboring countries, and at least 150,000 people killed since the war began.

They said the continued flow of weapons, mercenaries and drones from abroad has prolonged the conflict, adding that more than a dozen countries, smuggling networks, arms brokers and foreign mercenaries are providing different forms of military support to both sides of the war.

Sudan’s war erupted in April 2023 after a power struggle between army chief Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, over plans to integrate the RSF into the army during the country’s political transition.

The confrontation quickly turned into a nationwide war that spread across much of the country and created one of the world’s largest displacement and hunger crises, according to the United Nations.

The conflict has been accompanied by mutual accusations of serious violations of international humanitarian law. The UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan and other UN reports have found that RSF violations may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, while also accusing the SAF of violations during military operations. Both sides deny committing systematic crimes against civilians.

Waltz and Boulos said the current UN arms embargo, imposed under Security Council Resolution 1591 in 2005, applies only to Darfur, while the war has expanded into Kordofan, Blue Nile and other regions, making the current restrictions insufficient to stop weapons flows.

They said the U.S. draft resolution before the Security Council aims to impose a nationwide arms embargo across Sudan, covering arms smuggling networks, drone suppliers, mercenary recruiters, procurement agents, and individuals or entities providing military support to either side of the conflict.

The officials said the United States has already imposed sanctions on individuals and entities accused of facilitating mercenary recruitment and military support, urging Security Council members to support the resolution and take similar measures to stop weapons from reaching Sudan.

They concluded that neither the SAF nor the RSF has the legitimacy to govern Sudan after the war, saying the country’s future must be based on an independent civilian dialogue led by Sudanese people, alongside a humanitarian truce that allows aid delivery and opens the way for a comprehensive peace process.