Podemos calls on the government to officially recognize the genocide in Darfur

Eduardo González The Secretary General of Podemos and Deputy Spokesperson for the Mixed Parliamentary Group, Ione Belarra, has called on the Government to “officially recognize the ongoing genocide in Darfur” and to declare an immediate arms embargo on the United Arab Emirates, as well as on any state, company, or entity that is supplying weapons, financing, or logistical support to the paramilitaries involved in crimes of genocide, war crimes, or crimes against humanity in Sudan.” In a non-binding motion registered on November 4 for debate in Parliament, Podemos recalls that on April 15, 2013, an open armed conflict erupted in Sudan between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the paramilitary group created in 2013 by then-President Omar al-Bashir to quell rebellions in Darfur and other regions of the country. who has been accused by the United Nations, the African Union, and the International Criminal Court (ICC) of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity during the Darfur war (2003-2009). Following the popular revolution that overthrew Al-Bashir in 2019, Sudan began a process of civil and institutional transition that altered the balance of power between the SAF and the RSF. The tensions arising from this restructuring, coupled with the refusal of the RSF commander, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti), to submit to the authority of a unified military command, led to large-scale armed clashes. What began in the capital, Khartoum, quickly spread to the rest of the country, especially Darfur, where the RSF had a strong territorial base. “The magnitude of the humanitarian crisis in Sudan has been described by the United Nations as the most serious in the world today,” warns Podemos. According to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), more than 11.5 million people are internally displaced within the country, 3.2 million have fled to neighboring countries, and more than 30 million—two-thirds of the Sudanese population—are in urgent need of humanitarian aid. In several regions, including Darfur and Kordofan, humanitarian agencies have identified conditions of widespread famine. In May 2024, the siege of the city of El Fasher, capital of North Darfur state, began when RSF blocked humanitarian access routes and prevented the entry of food, medicine, and fuel. For more than 550 days, the city remained surrounded under continuous fire, with tens of thousands of displaced people trapped without any possibility of assistance or evacuation. On October 26, 2025, RSF announced the complete capture of El Fasher after intense bombing and house-to-house fighting. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), as Podemos points out, more than 26,000 people fled the city in just For 48 hours, some 260,000 people—half of them children—were trapped. Testimonies from humanitarian organizations, the UN, and international media outlets such as Al Jazeera and The Guardian describe the execution of thousands of civilians, the existence of mass graves, and the deliberate destruction of neighborhoods inhabited by Fur and Masalit communities, “confirming the commission of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and acts of genocide.” For his part, UN Secretary-General António Guterres has warned that the offensive against El Fasher could unleash a “catastrophe of genocidal proportions” if the international community does not act urgently. Emirates “In this context, various human rights organizations have documented the possible direct involvement of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the armed conflict and genocide perpetrated by the RSF in Darfur,” Belarra denounces. Furthermore, in May 2025, Amnesty International identified advanced Chinese weaponry used by the RSF and allegedly re-exported by the UAE in violation of the UN arms embargo on Darfur. Likewise, in a 2024 study, the organization reported that new arms shipments were entering Darfur through Amdjarass Airport (eastern Chad), used by the RSF, identifying the UAE as one of the main transit routes. Various reports from the UN Panel of Experts on Sudan and Amnesty International document that the RSF controls a vast economic and financial network based on gold mining and export. “The United Arab Emirates has been identified as a key player in this network, with transfers of military equipment to the RSF via Chad and Libya intended to guarantee access to gold deposits and strategic infrastructure on the Red Sea, such as the port of Abu Amama,” Podemos asserts. In March 2025, the Sudanese government filed a lawsuit with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) accusing the UAE of complicity in genocide for arming and financing the RSF, “although the case was dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.” According to investigations by Reuters and The Guardian, much of the gold mined in Darfur and Kordofan is exported to Dubai, where intermediary companies refine and trade it, thereby financing the acquisition of weapons and supplies for the RSF. “It is worth remembering that Dubai is one of the world’s largest gold trading centers, despite not having commercially exploitable gold deposits,” the statement continues. Switzerland and Turkey are listed as two of the main destinations for gold re-exported from the US, “while Spain is an active and important trading partner for the country.” For all these reasons, the text presented by Podemos urges the Government to publicly demand an immediate ceasefire in Sudan and to insist on safe, rapid, and unrestricted access for humanitarian aid to the entire civilian population, as well as to promote, in coordination with the United Nations, the opening of safe humanitarian corridors in Darfur, with special attention to the city of El Fasher, under international supervision, and to actively collaborate in the delivery and distribution of humanitarian aid. It also urges the Government to “officially recognize the ongoing genocide in Darfur, consistent with the evidence documented by the United Nations, the International Criminal Court, and leading international human rights organizations,” and to “declare an immediate arms embargo on the United Arab Emirates, as well as on any state, company, or entity supplying arms, financing, or logistical support to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) or other militias involved in genocide, war crimes, or crimes against humanity in Sudan.” It further calls on the Government to “immediately suspend the import of gold from the United Arab Emirates and any other goods whose origin is linked to the armed conflict in Sudan, in order to prevent the financing of groups responsible for war crimes and genocide,” and to promote “the adoption of a comprehensive arms embargo on the United Arab Emirates and the suspension of gold imports within the European Union.” Finally, it urges the Executive to "support the processes and mechanisms for holding those responsible for genocide and crimes in Sudan accountable before international justice."

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