Sudan's Carnage Is So Big It Can Be Seen by Satellites

What followed a Sudanese city's fall to the Darfur-based Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group last week is, according to experts, akin to the start of a genocide. There are reports of rape, torture, and mass killings targeting non-Arabs—even maternity patients in hospitals. And no one can claim ignorance, writes Guardian columnist Nesrine Malik. "RSF has embarked on a killing spree of civilians so severe that images of blood saturating the ground have been picked up by satellite," she writes. In one surfaced video from El Fasher, the fallen city, a commander says no one will be spared and "our job is only killing," she notes.

Yet even now, the 2.5-year-long war between RSF and the rival Sudanese army is "tolerated" by the international community. Why? "Because to reckon with the horror in Sudan is to look into the abyss of regional and global politics," Malik writes, calling out the United Arab Emirates' sponsorship of the RSF, and the refusal of UAE allies—including the US and UK—to pressure the government "to cease and desist from supporting a genocidal militia." She concludes "those who have leverage over the UAE, and therefore the RSF, but allow the violence to pass without urgent action or pressure have blood on their hands." Read the full piece here.