April 15, 2024
President Joseph R. Biden
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear President Biden,
We, the undersigned individuals and organizations, urge you to speak out on the crisis in Sudan. Since April 2023, the ongoing fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has devastated the country, with countless atrocities and millions forcibly displaced and in dire need of humanitarian assistance. Many in Sudan are at the brink of famine, if not experiencing these horrors already.
In December 2023, your Secretary of State Antony Blinken made an official atrocity determination on Sudan, citing that members of the SAF have committed war crimes and that members of the RSF and allied militias have committed war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing. The ethnic based targeted killing in Darfur, in particular, echoes the atrocities in Darfur that caught the world’s attention some 20 years ago. The threat of violence against civilians remains and the risk of widespread hunger grows.
It is clear that urgent action is needed to prevent further atrocities and loss of life. We urge you to:
- Fully support your appointed Special Envoy for Sudan in strengthening diplomatic efforts to protect civilians and secure humanitarian access, including through bilateral and multilateral engagement with the leaders of governments with influence over the parties involved in the conflict.
- Call out governments implicated in arming those responsible for committing atrocities against civilians, and in violation of the UN Security Council Sudan Arms Embargo.
- Work with other donor countries to scale up humanitarian assistance, including through local Emergency Response Rooms and other mutual aid groups led by Sudanese civilians.
- Support evidence collection, documentation efforts, and accountability measures in Sudan including through the UN Fact-Finding Mission for Sudan, the International Criminal Court, and any future credible accountability process within Sudan.
- Engage and support the governments of neighboring countries to ensure aid and refuge is offered to those fleeing hunger and violence in Sudan.
Most urgently, Mr. President, we urge you to speak out on the crisis in Sudan. Address the nation and the world to bear witness to the tragedy unfolding in Sudan, to mobilize international support for Sudanese civilians, and to prevent the further loss of civilian life.
Signed,
- Alliance for Peacebuilding
- American Friends Service Committee
- Amnesty International USA
- Darfur Women Action Group
- Genocide Watch
- Girifna
- Human Rights Watch
- Humanity United
- iACT
- Institute for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention (I-GMAP) – Binghamton University
- Jewish World Watch
- Kandaka
- Never Again Coalition
- No Business With Genocide
- Nonviolent Peaceforce
- PAEMA
- Peace Direct
- Presbyterian Church (USA)
- Refugee Congress
- Refugees International
- South Sudan Women United
- Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA)
- Sudanese American Physicians Association
- Sudanese American Public Affairs Association (SAPAA)
- The Sentry
- STAND
- Sudan Unlimited
- The Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy (TIMEP)
- U.S. Educated Sudanese Association (USESA)
- Vital Voices