Subcommittee on International Human Rights Committee on Nov. 24th, 2025

[Yonah Diamond]

Yes. I'll start us off just to say that we've issued two reports: legal inquiries with international jurists around the world, legal scholars, genocide experts, the president of the International Association of Genocide Scholars and founding prosecutors of international tribunals. We found the SAF and the RSF responsible. In our genocide report, the SAF was complicit, and the RSF is directly responsible for genocide.

In our second report, we found both sides to have committed crimes against humanity, against children. We found differences, because, yes, there are two sides; however, the degree of atrocities differs and the degree of external support actually differs. The levels of evidence available to support which outside states support the RSF versus the SAF are different, because we've examined these questions of external support.

If you like, I can list some of the reasons why we focus on the U.A.E. as one of the world's major powers, if not the most powerful, and also because of the links, which we found not to have met as high an evidentiary standard as for other states.

I'll pass it along to Mutasim.

[Mutasim Ali]

Thanks so much.

In terms of our view of the atrocities, we believe that the warring parties are actually now a lot more complex. Additional parties are also involved in the conflict. Of all the external actors mentioned by a witness, from the U.A.E.... As I mentioned, the U.A.E. is one of the external actors. We agree that Turkey is complicit. We agree that all of the countries that were mentioned were responsible, but what about the U.A.E. and all the evidence and the reports, including by the UN panel of experts in 2024?

By the way, the U.A.E. was responsible for fuelling the conflicts in Libya, in South Sudan, and of course in Ethiopia and in Yemen as well. They're very well documented reports.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

I have a question for Mr. Omer, but I don't know whether he's still on the line. I can't see him on the screen.

[Khalid Omer]

I'm on the line.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Okay.

Mr. Omer, you explained the situation quite well, along with everyone's objective. Two sides are committing atrocities, either indirectly or directly, as other witnesses just said. This is currently the crux of the problem.

Are there any civil society organizations left in Sudan, particularly democratic organizations, that Canada or other western countries could support? Or, on the contrary, is there hardly any civil society or democratic structure left in place?

[Khalid Omer]

Sudan has a very long history of strong democratic movements. It is so diverse. There are political parties. There are resistance committees. Youth, women and humanitarian actors are working on the ground. This horrible war has failed to kill this movement. This movement is still alive. It is so diverse. It is working in different arenas.

I'm part of one of these organizations, which is a political alliance called Sumoud, bringing together political parties, resistance committees, civil society and trade unions. We are not the only actors. There are other actors as well. As I said, there are the humanitarian actors who are now the first responders on the ground, and women and youth groups. The aim of this war is to kill this movement, the very diverse democratic movement in Sudan that worked together to topple the Bashir regime and end the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood in Sudan.

This war has been used to punish them. The atrocities that have been committed by the two sides are partly how they are targeting the civilian actors. Actually, from my political party, my colleague, the head of our party in one of the localities of Gezira state, was abducted by the SAF. He was tortured and killed. They hid his body, even from his family, for weeks until they discovered it. This is just one case of many of how they are targeting political actors and how they are targeting youth and women actors. A number of them are in prison now.

SAF is now denying us our basic rights. We can't get passports. I can't even get passports for my family, let alone for myself. The only crime we commit is that we stand against the war. The only crime we commit is that we work tirelessly to resist the Bashir regime. This is now the war of the Bashir regime to take revenge on the civilian movement that resisted them and refused to surrender to them.

[The Chair, Liberal, Fayçal El-Khoury]

Thank you.

I'd like to invite Mr. Sameer Zuberi to take the floor.

You have five minutes.

[Sameer Zuberi, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you again to the witnesses for being here.

I'll start off with you, Ms. Elfil. What are your thoughts on a civilian-led transition for Sudan?

[Ranya Elfil]

I'm going to start by saying that I think for someone to sit and call the witnesses complicit for trying to frame that there is one part that is responsible, other than the other, is shameless, to be honest.

[Sameer Zuberi, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

I have to agree with you. It's deeply objectionable. That needs to be acknowledged, as you have.

[Ranya Elfil]

I will continue. I'm so sorry. This is very impactful.

I just want to bring some facts to the table.

One of the things is that the transitional government, when it came.... The revolution on the ground called for “Al-jaysh lilthakanat w-al Janjaweed yinhil”, which means “Army to the barracks and Janjaweed dismantled”; Janjaweed is the RSF. That was the call of the revolution. What happened was that the transitional government itself—Khalid Omer Yousif was a key part of it—decided that this is a model partnership between the army, RSF and civilians to lead a peaceful transition in Sudan. That is what got us to where we are right now. I think just omitting that part distorts the reality of the situation.

When we talk about civil organizations that can actually help with the civil transition, I want to acknowledge that the emergency response rooms and the resistance committees, as he rightfully said, do amazing work still in Sudan. Women's organizations—and I think this is where our part comes in as Sudanese Canadians—are to be consulted around who the Canadian government should think of as trusted to empower and to work with to bring real civil rule in Sudan.

I just want to say that the Muslim Brotherhood put a gun to my head when I was 14 years old in high school because of the history of my family in terms of opposition. To sit here today and to be called pro-Muslim Brotherhood is.... I don't know what to call it, to be honest. I just want us to focus on the facts. SAF is complicit. RSF is complicit. The war is complex, and we really need to focus on bringing peace to Sudan. We have to tidy our own house, as Canadians, and part of tidying our own house as Canadians is to make sure that we're not part of it, that we're not part of weapons getting into the hands of RSF, but holding all parties accountable and, again, making sure that when we are working with civil society, we know and we're informed in terms of whom we work with and whom we empower so we're actually bringing true civil rule to Sudan, which so many have died fighting for.

Thank you.

[Sameer Zuberi, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Thank you.

I'll continue with you.

I want to ask about the children, going back to the immigration pathway you and your colleagues have worked on. Can you talk a bit about the children who are stuck in Sudan right now as it relates to the program?

[Ranya Elfil]

Thank you, Mr. Zuberi.

This is a very important file that we wanted to bring attention to, which is part of our advocacy effort. We highlighted the case of Canadian children with non-Canadian parents. In most of the cases, the father is Canadian and passed away. They are with a non-Canadian mother trying to come to Canada since the beginning of the war, trapped either in Sudan or in displacement, and there was no pathway created for them. We've been working on this file with the IRCC since April 2024. One of the Canadian kids actually drowned, died in one of the internal refugee camps, while his mom and two other Canadian kids still wait for the mother to be granted a visa so the family can come to Canada. There are many examples of those cases that we personally documented and raised to the IRCC in hopes of creating a solution for this group. Unfortunately, until now, none have arrived in Canada.

[Sameer Zuberi, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Thank you so much.

I just want to again salute your courage. Sadia, Mutasim and Ranya, thank you for being strong. We're wishing all who are watching strength. Thank you for sharing everything with us.

[The Chair, Liberal, Fayçal El-Khoury]

Thank you, Mr. Zuberi.

Now I would like to invite Madame Kronis for five minutes, please.

[Tamara Kronis, Conservative, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I also want to just pause to thank all the witnesses. I know it's been very emotional to be here today. Again, I want to acknowledge your pain.

I'd like to go back to Mr. Omer.

One of the features of this terrible conflict is that it is the latest in a sequence of conflicts in Sudan. I'm wondering if you could comment a little bit on the role that previous atrocities in the area have played in shaping both the current leadership and the strategic objectives of both sides to the conflict.

[Khalid Omer]

This is a very good question. If we take Darfur as an example, the story of Darfur didn't start on April 15, 2023. The story of Darfur started long decades ago. When Sudanese people from Darfur were demanding their rights to end any kind of discrimination in 2003, the Bashir regime responded to this with violence and genocide, by creating the militias that burned villages. They empowered these militias and, actually, they legitimized them after that, by forming the RSF in 2013 and making the law in their parliament. They expanded and became bigger, and they shared the power and wealth together.

When this war started.... Actually, when the 2003 war started, the RSF mainly came from certain communities in Darfur—namely the Arabs of Darfur. They recruited them to fight the other communities, and that was actually the incubator for the rebels at that time—namely the Zaghawa, the Masalit, and the Fur. When this war happened and the fight happened between SAF and RSF, the SAF actually adopted the opposite strategy, which is, now, to align with certain communities and turn them against the other communities. This was the repeated strategy that has been implemented in every part of Sudan.

Look, for South Sudan now, the instability there, the real source of that was Khartoum before the separation, because Khartoum fought its wars there by turning communities against each other to stay in power in Khartoum. I mean, all these atrocities and wars are linked to each other. The source is one source, that central authority that wants to manipulate and to exploit the differences among the communities in Sudan to stay in power. The cure for this is not to look at part of the picture; it's to look at the whole picture. It's to end the central rule and go for an inclusive way of governance in Sudan.

[Tamara Kronis, Conservative, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

What you're describing, effectively, is that what we appear to have in Sudan are two parallel military institutions, both of which claim to have the authority of the state and to be in the centre of things. Each of them is backed by regional powers, with people who benefit from the conflict and seek to maintain those benefits.

In that context, you've tried to be very neutral in your remarks. You've tried to focus, I suppose, on civil society and elevating elements of civil society that are there on both sides of this. I suppose this is the most complicated question I could ask you today, which I think you have about 45 seconds to answer: What should Canada do?

[Khalid Omer]

I think the moral focus is on stopping the war—this should be the priority. Stopping the war is the entry to stopping the atrocities. There is a very promising initiative now, a proposal on the table for a humanitarian truce. The two parties should be pushed to sign this truce, so as to stop the bleeding in Sudan. Second, support a process for civilian democratic transition. This is the only strategic way to achieve stability in Sudan.

[Tamara Kronis, Conservative, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

Now let me ask you an impossible question. As we sit here on Monday, November 24, there is one side that has accepted that truce and another side that has not. Again, I push it back to you: If a humanitarian truce is the thing we need, how do we get there?

[Khalid Omer]

Through pressure, I think. The sides are responding only to pressure, not to niceties, so you need to push them to accept the truce and to commit to the implementation of the truce. Now that the RSF has accepted the truce, they have to be pushed to commit to the implementation of the truce. SAF has rejected the truce. They have to be pushed to sign the truce and to commit to the truce. I think the strategy of being silent about those who want to continue the war is fuelling the war. It is not ending the war.

[The Chair, Liberal, Fayçal El-Khoury]

Thank you.

Mr. Brunelle‑Duceppe, you have the floor for five minutes.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Araa, you haven't had the chance to say much after your opening remarks. I'll give you the chance to speak.

How do you view not only the current situation, but also the future of Sudan? Do you have any suggestions for the committee on how to achieve lasting peace?

[Sadia Araa]

Thank you for asking that question.

As a Sudanese and Darfurian, I have seen enough killing. Whenever I see killing and the world doesn't do anything, I think of the old ways, and I'm going back to 1948, when the world came and said that was enough killing of innocent civilians. The world right now needs to stop the killing. Bring both sides to the table. Don't let these innocent people die every single day. Then, push for transition.

In 2019, young people in their twenties went out for a month, during Ramadan. They sat down there asking for a civilian government.

Everyone thinks that Sudanese people are Islamist, that they're in the brotherhood. The Sudanese people are the most educated people, and they're really peaceful people. They go everywhere, they work, and they know. If you ever work with Sudanese people, you will find that they're very supportive, very innocent and very hard-working people.

The way to get out from here is a civilian government. We need Canada and its allies to stop the killing and help us to get there.

We are not like a country that does not have resources. We do have resources. We have land resources. We have gold that the U.A.E. is milking from us, and it's number one. The gold they see inside Dubai, which is being refined and sent everywhere, comes from Darfur. Of the gold that Sudan exports, 99% goes to the U.A.E. That money should be with the civilian government.

We shouldn't have to come and sit to talk all the time about the poverty in Sudan and malnourished kids. The most displaced people on planet earth right now are the Sudanese people. We shouldn't have to talk about it. We should have more of our resources go to the Sudanese people, with a fair government and fair trade with everyone who wants to help us. We welcome them and are extending our hands.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Diamond and Mr. Ali, Ms. Araa just spoke about Sudan's gold. Some people say that Sudan's gold has become like Sierra Leone's blood diamonds.

Do you have anything to say to the committee about this?

People also say that the famine is now affecting the adult population. This shows that the humanitarian crisis has reached catastrophic proportions.

I'll give you my last few minutes to answer these questions.