1 year after conflict, UN human rights chief gravely concerned at upsurge in Sudan violence

By Peter Kenny

GENEVA (AA) – The UN Human Rights chief Volker Turk said Friday he is gravely concerned by the escalating violence in Sudan's El-Fasher city in North Darfur, where dozens of people have been killed in the past two weeks.

Rights Office spokesperson Seif Magango told a UN news conference that Turk made his call as hostilities between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have intensified.

"Reports indicate that both parties have launched indiscriminate attacks using explosive weapons with wide-area effects, such as mortar shells and rockets fired from fighter jets, in residential districts," Turk noted.

One year after the conflict started, at least 43 people, including women and children, were killed as fighting was taking place between the SAF and RSF – backed by their respective allied militia – since April 14, when the RSF began its push into El-Fasher.

"Civilians are trapped in the city, the only one in Darfur still in the hands of the SAF, afraid of being killed should they attempt to flee," said Turk.

The UN has described the situation in Sudan as the largest internal displacement crisis globally.

- Shortage of supplies

The UN rights chief said a severe shortage of essential supplies compounds Sudan’s dire situation.

Deliveries of commercial goods and humanitarian aid have been heavily constrained by the fighting, and delivery trucks are unable to freely transit through RSF-controlled territory.

Earlier, UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict Pramila Patten and Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs coordinator Joyce Msuya had said in a statement that they are appalled by sexual violence against women and girls.

"After one year of hostilities in Sudan, we are appealing for more international engagement to combat sexual violence against women and girls in the country," they noted.

"These barbaric acts, which echo the horrors witnessed in Darfur two decades ago, must spur immediate action."

They said reports of sexual violence reveal the war's disproportionate impact on women and girls.

Allegations of rape, forced marriages, sexual slavery, and trafficking of women and girls – especially in Khartoum, Darfur, and Kordofan – continue to be recorded.

"Millions of civilians are especially at risk as they flee conflict areas in search of shelter, inside Sudan and in neighboring countries," Patten and Msuya also said.

"However, the true scale of this crisis remains unseen, a result of severe underreporting due to stigma, fear of reprisals, and a lack of confidence in national institutions."