UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said on Friday that the war in Sudan is becoming “more dangerous” for civilians, responding to reports of attacks on ethnic minorities by militias linked to the army. official website of the United Nations.
“The situation for civilians in Sudan is already dire, and there is evidence of war crimes and other heinous crimes,” Türk said in a statement. “I am afraid that the situation is now turning even more dangerous,” he added.
In Sudan, since 2023, a war has raged between the army led by the country’s de facto leader, General Abdal Fattah Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Force (RSF), led by Burhan’s one-time deputy, Muhammad Hamdán Daklou. The war claimed tens of thousands of victims and drove millions of people from their homes.
The Sudanese army has been fighting in al-Jazeera state this week and recaptured its capital, Wad Madani, from RSF troops, writes AFP.
There could be many more victims
The UN has recorded at least 21 deaths in two attacks in the state of al-Jazeera in the past week alone. The UN says the death toll could be “much higher”. AFP says that while the RSF is known for ethnic-based attacks, there have also been reports of such attacks taking place in areas controlled by the army.
The US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Burhan on Thursday, accusing him of attacking schools, shops and hospitals, as well as using food shortages as a weapon of war. Just a week earlier, the US had imposed sanctions on the leader of the RSF and accused the group of committing genocide.
In response to claims by US officials about the use of chemical weapons by the Sudanese army, Türk’s spokeswoman said on Friday that due to limited access, no such attacks had been documented so far. She called these reports disturbing and added that they needed to be investigated. According to her, the UN recorded “the use of extremely heavy weapons in populated areas”, including air attacks on markets.
Both sides of the conflict accuse each other of attacks targeting civilians and indiscriminate shelling of populated areas, writes AFP. The war brought the country to the brink of famine, which the UN describes as one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.
