The Honorable Chris Smith
U.S. House of Representatives
2373 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
October 22, 2025
Dear Representative Smith,
We, the undersigned faith-based, advocacy, and community organizations, write with great urgency regarding the ongoing genocide, war, and humanitarian catastrophe in Sudan. As people of conscience, we urge you to impress upon President Trump the seriousness of the crisis and the power he has to stop the killing and to bring about peace in Sudan.
The war between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces has likely killed more than 400,000 people, displaced over 15 million, and left over 26 million people in need of emergency aid. Famine conditions continue to worsen in El Fasher, North Darfur, as the RSF siege that began in May 2024 and is now more impenetrable than ever continues. Mass slaughter could ensue if the RSF wrests complete control of the city from the Sudanese army. Parts of South Kordofan are also under siege by the RSF and allied militias. Decisive action is needed now to end these horrors.
As people of faith and conscience, sharing in your commitment to the supreme value of life, and focused on the particularly extreme urgency of ending the genocide and famine, that we strongly urge you to discuss Sudan with the President, imploring him to take two immediate steps, backed by decisive action.
First, the President should demand that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) stop sending weapons to and otherwise supporting the RSF. He should use all levers of influence to cause the UAE to pressure the RSF to allow unrestricted, protected, and sustained humanitarian access into El Fasher and other areas under siege, to allow people to leave these areas freely and safely, and to
end its targeted attacks on civilians. Those in El Fasher must be spared the fate of over 10,000 murdered by the RSF after taking El Geneina in West Darfur in 2023. The President’s personal diplomacy with the UAE would make a significant difference, as would suspending all weapon sales to the UAE until its sustained compliance, imposing prohibitive tariffs, and massively expanding UAE/RSF-related sanctions.
And second, he should surge U.S. humanitarian assistance to address the extreme hunger and deprivation experienced in El Fasher, South Kordofan, and elsewhere in Sudan and in the surrounding countries hosting Sudanese refugees. Assistance should prioritize support within Sudan for the Emergency Response Rooms and other Sudanese civil society organizations. And he should use all U.S. influence on the Sudanese Armed Forces, which have recently resumed
airdrops to their own forces in El Fasher, to fulfill their moral responsibility to deliver large quantities of food, water, and medicines to the city’s besieged civilian population.
We recognize that ours is an unusual, indeed extraordinary, ask of you – that you raise this matter directly with the president, but we believe this offers the best hope for immediately preventing further starvation and mass atrocities, and required for securing a sustainable, democratic peace. We urge the President to make peace in Sudan a top priority of his administration.
We conclude with the words of Dr. Omar Selik, a physician in El Fasher. Dr. Selik had the opportunity to escape, but chose to remain and care for his patients. He survived his hospital being bombed 30 separate times, but last month, he and dozens of others were killed in an RSF attack on a local mosque. Days earlier, he had spoken to a journalist, who asked him what would happen if the RSF took full control of the city. Dr. Selik responded: “They will kill everyone.”
Please do everything in your power to prevent this from happening.
Thank you for your tireless leadership in Congress. We believe your personal focus on Sudan will make a significant difference.
Sincerely,
Act for Sudan
Advocacy Network for Africa
Alliance of Baptists
American African Foundation Against Torture
American Friends of the Episcopal Church of the Sudans
American Friends Service Committee
Boma Assistance Group
Bronx United Progressives
Church of the Brethren, Office of Peacebuilding and Policy
Decolonize Sudan
Emgage
Friends Committee on National Legislation
Genocide Watch
Human Security Project
Institute for Religious Freedom and Tolerance
Jewish World Watch
Jews Against Genocide
Journal of Social Encounters
Manna House
Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns
New York Sudan Coalition
No Business With Genocide
Operation Broken Silence
Pax Christi New York State
Presbyterian Church (USA), Office of Public Witness
San Diego Lost Boys of Sudan Charitable Corporation
The Sentry
Sudan Humanitarian Foundation
Sudan Unlimited
Sudanese American Public Affairs Association
Unflinching Hope Worldwide
The United Methodist Church – General Board of Church and Society