The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, warned on Friday that Sudanese civilians are in greater danger than ever, as ethnically motivated attacks by warring parties are becoming "increasingly common." The warning comes amid reports of an imminent battle for control of the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. The conflict in Sudan has sparked famine, killed tens of thousands of people, and driven millions from their homes.
On April 15, 2023, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) launched a brutal war that has created the world's largest humanitarian crisis. The United Nations estimates that 30 million people - two-thirds of Sudan's population - are in need of humanitarian assistance as a result of the conflict.
“As the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces battle for control at all costs in the senseless war that [has] raged for close to two years now, direct and ethnically motivated attacks on civilians are becoming increasingly common,” Türk said in a statement.
“The situation for civilians in Sudan is already desperate, and there is evidence of the commission of war crimes and other atrocity crimes. I fear the situation is now taking a further, even more dangerous turn.”
Some 15.6 million people have been displaced by conflict in Sudan, making it the largest displacement crisis in the world. The vast majority of the displaced - more than 12.3 million women, children and men - have been uprooted by the war that erupted in April 2023 and continues unabated.
Over the course of twenty-one months, more than 12.3 million people have been forced to flee their homes as a result of the ongoing conflict, including more than 9 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) and some 3.3 million people who have crossed borders into other countries.
Nearly two years into the war in Sudan, the country continues to slide into a deepening famine characterized by widespread hunger and a significant increase in acute malnutrition. In December, the IPC Famine Review Committee (FRC) identified famine in at least five areas, four months after famine was first confirmed in the Zamzam camp for displaced people in Sudan's North Darfur state.
With half of the population facing high levels of acute food insecurity, Sudan is currently the world's largest hunger crisis. More than 24.6 million people across Sudan are now experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 3 or worse.) This includes 8.1 million people in Emergency (IPC Phase 4) and at least 638,000 people in IPC Phase 5 (Catastrophe).
Sudan has witnessed shocking levels of violence since fighting broke out in April 2023, sparked by a power struggle between General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, commander of the SAF and president of the Transitional Sovereign Council, and General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, commander of the RSF, also known as Hemedti, plunging the country into the devastating humanitarian crisis.
“I once again call on the President of the Transitional Sovereign Council and the Commander of the Rapid Support Forces to put an end to the fighting,” said Türk.
The High Commissioner reiterated his call on both parties to comply with their obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law. Attacks must never be directed against civilians, he said.
Türk also warned that the proliferation of militia recruitment and mobilization of fighters, largely along ethnic lines, risks sparking a wider civil war and inter-communal violence.
“The SAF and the RSF are responsible for the actions of groups and individuals fighting on their behalf,” Türk said.
“The SAF and RSF must take immediate measures to ensure the protection of all civilians, including by taking all feasible measures to avoid or at the very least minimize harm to civilians in the conduct of hostilities”
Türk’s spokesperson, Ravina Shamdasani, told journalists Friday at a briefing in Geneva, that this “is an extremely dire situation which deserves all the attention it can get to put whatever pressure the international community can to bring this conflict to an end.”
In the past week alone, she said, the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) has documented at least 21 deaths in two attacks in Al Jazira state, “although the actual numbers of attacks directed at civilians and of civilians killed are very likely much higher.”
“The reason why we felt we had to speak out today is because of reports of an imminent battle for Khartoum,” she said.
“We are worried about the kinds of violations that we may see as the parties to the conflict battle for control at all costs for Khartoum, and we are worried that this is taking us further away from peace and further into a horrific situation for civilians.”
Türk expressed concern about retaliatory attacks of “shocking brutality” on entire communities based on real or perceived ethnic identity and hate speech, which he said were on the rise and were acting as “an incitement to violence.”
“This must, urgently, be brought to an end,” he said.
Shamdasani reported that OHCHR has received three videos that document scenes of violence, including summary executions that were hailed by perpetrators as “a cleaning operation.” The victims were referred to as animals and dirt before being killed.
"The videos reportedly were filmed in Wad Madani with men in SAF uniforms visibly present," the spokesperson said.
“Serious concerns also persist for civilians in North Darfur, where ethnically motivated attacks by the RSF and its allied Arab militias against African ethnic groups, particularly the Zaghawa and Fur, continue to exact a horrific toll,” she said.
Separately, in the city of Omdurman, some 120 civilians were reportedly killed and more than 150 injured in drone attacks allegedly launched by the SAF on a market in Ombada Dar es Salam square, an RSF-controlled area, on January 13, OHCHR reported.
Shamdasani said High Commissioner Türk also was calling on all states to abide by a UN arms embargo and “to refrain from providing all types of military support in Sudan.” Just as nations fail to abide by the UN arms embargo, she acknowledged, sanctions imposed by individual countries often are not respected.
She was referring to the United States, which imposed sanctions on army chief al-Burhan on Thursday, a week after Washington sanctioned RSF commander Dagalo. The US government has described the actions of Sudan's paramilitary forces as genocide and placed sanctions on its leader. Washington also imposed sanctions on the head of the Sudanese army, citing his responsibility for war crimes.
Shamdasani said her office generally opposes broad sanctions because they can harm human rights in a country.
“But targeted sanctions can be effective in exerting pressure on specific individuals and organizations that are responsible for the perpetration of conflict,” she said.
“So, we are calling on states to use whatever measures they can, to use whatever leverage they have to pressure the parties to the conflict to bring this war to an end.”
In a related development, the UN Special Envoy for Children and Armed Conflict, Virginia Gamba, on Friday drew attention to the plight of children affected by the ongoing violence, warning that the rapid escalation of hostilities in Sudan has had a detrimental impact on children.
“Grave violations have risen to shocking levels since the conflict began. Hostilities must cease immediately, and all parties, particularly the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, must uphold their obligations under international humanitarian and human rights laws,” said Gamba in a statement.
“Furthermore, I am gravely concerned about continued intercommunal violence, including ethnically motivated attacks and the mass displacement of children,” she added.
The war in Sudan has exposed children to horrific levels of violence and exploitation, leaving them physically and emotionally scarred. Many have been recruited into armed groups, robbed of their childhood and forced into roles as fighters, spies or laborers.
Girls are at increased risk of sexual violence, with reports of abduction and abuse emerging from conflict-affected areas. In addition to being caught in the crossfire, children are deliberately targeted, including through the use of explosive weapons in populated areas, with attacks on schools, hospitals and displacement camps depriving them of safety and security.
Gamba stressed that achieving peace in Sudan is the only sustainable way to protect children, and called on neighboring countries to keep their borders open to those seeking international protection or returning to their countries of origin.
Some information for this report provided by VOA.
Further information
Full text: Sudan conflict taking more dangerous turn for civilians, UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, press release, published January 17, 2025
https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/01/sudan-conflict-taking-more-dangerous-turn-civilians
Full text: Sudan: An Immediate Need to End Violence and Protect Children, UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, press release, published January 17, 2025
https://childrenandarmedconflict.un.org/2025/01/sudan-an-immediate-need-to-end-violence-and-protect-children/