Khartoum, December 7 (SUNA) – The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued press release on the statements of the Secretary of State of the United States of America.

Hereunder is the text of the press release:

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The Republic of Sudan 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs          
Office of the Spokesperson and Media Directorate
Press Statement
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, having studied the press statement issued by the US’s Secretary of State on  6 December 2023 on the ongoing crisis in Sudan, would like  to point out the following:
The Ministry welcomes the Department of State’s determination of the atrocities of the rebel RSF militia as war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing, as well as citing  other  crimes by the militia such as sexual violence, attacking, kidnapping women and girls, and  targeting those who try to flee to safety which  resembling  genocide. 
The Ministry, however, expresses its astonishment and rejection of the accusation leveled by the Department to the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) of committing war crimes، as it is  baseless.
The Ministry also rejects the sweeping allegations that place the SAF and the rebel militia on the same level as being responsible for unleashing horrific violence, death and destruction, and  detaining civilians, some of whom were killed in detention sites. Such practices are carried out solely by the rebel militia, and implicating the SAF in  these practices is unfounded. 

The statement overlooked the fact that SAF is the legitimate national army, which has a duty and a right, to defend Sudan and its people, and to protect its headquarters and garrisons in the face of a barbaric onslaught launched by a militia comprised mostly  mercenaries, that is targeting innocent citizens and all aspects of statehood, civic life   and the country’s sovereignty.  This is compared to the US Government’s justification,  in the name of the right to self-defense, of an ongoing carnage to which an entire innocent people is subjected to. 

Furthermore, the statement did not mention other serious crimes committed by the militia including occupying hundreds of thousands of  citizens’ houses in the capital, Khartoum,  forcibly displacing at least 5 million of its inhabitants, and the use of hospitals, universities, houses of worship and other civil facilities for military operations, in violation of the Jeddah Declaration on Humanitarian Principles  signed on 11 May 2023, besides treating the abducted girls in a manner amounts  to slavery.
The statement, moreover, fails to  condemn the countries that continue to supply the rebel militia with arms and mercenaries, given
 the close relations the US  have with those countries, and despite compelling and documented testimonies  implicating the said countries, and the calls by the Congress and a number of organizations and experts on the US Government to take a clear position on the issue, for these countries are in fact complicit and accountable for the crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing carried out by the rebel militia.

Finally, the Government of the Republic of The Sudan renews its readiness to engage positively with the Government of the United States to clarify the realities of what is happening in Sudan and to discuss means and ways of  resolving the crisis.
Thursday, 7 December, 2023