London /Al Hamish’s Voice – September 24, 2025 -A group of Sudanese academics and activists, along with international observers, addressed an open letter to British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, expressing their “deep concern and strong anger” over London’s policy toward the war in Sudan. The signatories said that through rhetoric equating victim and aggressor, the British government is providing the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia with political and diplomatic cover to continue committing crimes against civilians.
The letter pointed to international reports confirming that the Rapid Support Forces are responsible for the majority of violations against civilians, including 77% of the documented crimes, according to the 2024 ACLED report. It also cited Human Rights Watch documentation of the burning of 43 villages in Darfur and widespread violations of rape and sexual violence committed after December 2023.
The letter, obtained by Al Hamish’s Voice, also highlighted a report by the UN Human Rights Office covering the period from January to June 2025, which documented large-scale attacks carried out by the militia in April. These attacks resulted in the killing of 527 civilians, including more than 270 in the Zamzam and Abu Shouk camps, in addition to summary executions in Omdurman.
The signatories stressed that the British government’s policy of equating “victim and aggressor” fuels impunity and grants the Rapid Support Forces implicit immunity. They condemned London’s refusal to name the militia as responsible for the September 19 shelling of Al Fashir mosque, which claimed the lives of more than 70 civilians.
They also criticized what they described as “British complicity” in covering up the UAE’s military support to the RSF, citing UN and human rights reports on arms smuggling, the recruitment of mercenaries, and the use of drones operated from bases along the Sudan–Chad border.
The letter concluded with a warning that what is happening in Al Fashir and Darfur is not a natural disaster but rather a “comprehensive fascist project” targeting Sudanese society through siege, starvation as a weapon of war, ethnic cleansing, rape, looting, and the destruction of infrastructure. The signatories called on the British government to take a clear and unequivocal stance in condemning these crimes and holding their perpetrators and backers accountable.
