Statement from the Sudanese Communist Party on the massacres by Rapid Support Forces in Bara and El Fasher

Our Party stands clearly and decisively against the horri-fying massacres being com-mitted against civilians in the cities of El Fasher and Bara, as well as in other areas of Kordofan and Darfur; a stance that does not hold any ambiguity or require further justification.

The Rapid Support Forces continue to perpetrate systematic violence against unarmed civilians: field executions, arbitrary arrests, looting and destruction of property, mass displacement, and forcing residents to flee ... and more, as documented and confirmed by reports from the United Nations, human rights organisations, and the media. This hellish, systematic violence is the result of all the wars our country has endured, marked by barbarity and the failure to bring perpetrators to justice. Impunity has never been an exception; rather, it is a central reason for the recurrence of these crimes. The ongoing absence of accountability has recreated an environment that allows the return of war crimes and genocide against the populations of cities and villages as soon as the regime’s forces retreat, as seen in Bara and El Fasher.

What we witness today is an extension of a policy entrenched since the first Darfur massacres. Therefore, confronting these crimes requires immediate and firm accountability for all those responsible for issuing and exe-cuting orders. We also emphasise that the failure to secure unarmed civilians, and the withdrawal of the army from the steadfast city of El Fasher for months in the face of the Jan- jaweed militia, is an irresponsible act deserving condemnation and accountability. The primary and most important duty of the army is to protect citizens and the home- land, not to protect itself. We, in the Sudanese Com-mmunist Party, always affirm that what is happening is not merely a military struggle for power; rather, it represents a complex scene of conflict between the parasitic wings of capitalism within the country over power and resources. These forces have amassed their wealth and privileges through corruption and the exploitation of power to loot resources, using armed conflict and terrorism to reinforce their dominance.

The war is, at the same time, a regional/international/imperi-alist scheme aimed at weakening the Sudanese state and creating conditions for disintegration and division to deplete the capabili- ties of the people, the wealth of the country, and violate national sovereignty. This political and eco-nomic dimension (local, regional, and international) of the conflict places a double responsibility on the international community to intervene immediately to stop this war and these massacres. We in the Sudanese Commu-nist Party call on the peoples of the world, and their democratic organ-isations, foremost among them the communist and labor parties, as well as human rights organisations and the conscience of the entire world, for international solidarity with the Sudanese people who are suffering alone and steadfastly in the face of a brutal war entering its third year without a horizon for resolution or end.

We call for popular movements around the world in the streets, through writing in newspapers, on social media, or other means for the immediate cessation of the war in Sudan and solidarity with our people. We also call for transform -ing “soft statements” and formal appeals into practical steps to protect civilians, open humanitar-ian corridors for the population, deliver aid, and conduct neutral and independent investigations into all war crimes in our country. The criticisms and condemnations issued by international and human rights institutions must be followed by concrete actions: imposing political, economic, and diplomatic sanctions on the perpetrators of violations, banning the export of weapons and logistical support to the criminals, and referring the crimes to independent international and local judicial mechanisms.

We also demand:

1. An immediate ceasefire, the declaration of a humanitarian truce, and a complete opening of humanitarian corridors to El Fasher and other areas of Darfur, Bara, and all of North and South Kordofan, ensuring the protection of aid convoys.
2. A quick, independent, and trans-parent international investiga-tion into war crimes, and holding accountable all who committed, ordered, or contributed to these crimes.
3. Urgent action from the peoples of the world, its democratic forces, and human rights organ-isations to pressure states and international bodies to halt any support or political or military complicity with the parties responsible for the violations. At the same time, we call on the vanguard of our people, the forces of mass mobilisation, and democratic forces to unite their ranks, escalate peaceful mass struggle, and develop political initiatives aimed at stopping the war, seizing power from the de facto governments in Port Sudan and Nyala, and returning to the path of the revolution to build a civil democratic state that safe-guards human rights and achieves social justice.

• We will not allow the testimonies of the victims to be buried in statements that merely express sympathy without follow-up.

Blood cries out for justice, demanding real protection and accountability.

• Stop the killing. Open the corridors for aid. Bring the perpetrators to justice. • Justice for the victims — and freedom and peace for the people of Sudan.

Political Bureau

Sudanese Communist Party

Published in the Workers Weekly Guardian on November 10th issue #2170 (Paper of the Communist Party of Australia)

Sorry for any formatting problems or typos. I manually typed it up.