Foreign Office rejected atrocity prevention plans for Sudan despite genocide warnings

Britain rejected atrocity prevention plans for Sudan despite intelligence warnings that the city of El Fasher would fall amid a wave of ethnic cleansing and possible genocide, according to a report seen by the Guardian.

- Mark Townsend

Displaced people gathered at Um Yanqur camp in Sudan's western Darfur region after fleeing El Fasher, which fell to Rapid Support Forces paramilitaries last month. Thousands from the city are now missing

(AFP/GETTY)

Government officials turned down the plans six months into the 18-month siege of El Fasher in favour of the “least ambitious” option of four that were presented.

The city was captured last month by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which immediately began ethnically motivated mass killings and rapes. Thousands of the city’s residents are missing.

An internal British government paper last year detailed options for increasing “the protection of civilians, including atrocity prevention” in Sudan. The options, evaluated by officials from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) in autumn last year, included the introduction of an “international protection mechanism” to safeguard civilians from crimes against humanity and sexual violence.

However, because of aid cuts, Foreign Office officials chose the “least ambitious” plan to protect civilians.

A report from October 2025 that documented the decision said: “Given resource constraints, [the UK] has opted to take the least ambitious approach to the prevention of atrocities, including CRSV [conflicted-related sexual violence].”