Bi-Weekly Press Briefing: Sudan Update - OHCHR

“Hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes to find places of greater safety, at any cost, and face abuses en route. But thousands remain trapped in residential areas where fighting has taken place, facing air strikes, shelling and use of heavy weapons, trying to use any period of calm to reach places of relative safety. People also continue to be forced from their homes by the RSF and suffer looting, extortion, acute shortages of food, water, electricity, fuel, and limited access to healthcare and cash due to the closure of banks, as well as limited communications,” she said.

“While a welcome ceasefire meant some reprieve in the fighting, clashes continued to be reported in densely populated areas of Khartoum, Bahri, Omdurman and towns in Darfur and North Kordofan. We are concerned at the serious risk of violence escalating in West Darfur as the hostilities between the RSF and SAF have triggered intercommunal violence. In El Geneina, West Darfur, deadly ethnic clashes have been reported, with an estimated 96 people killed since 24 April,” the spokesperson said.

“It is deeply alarming that inmates have been released from, or escaped from, a number of prisons. We are very worried about the prospect of further violence, amid a generalized climate of impunity,” Shamdasani said.

“We call on the parties to immediately end hostilities, and in particular to halt hostilities in residential areas and the targeting of civilian population and infrastructure. The protection of civilians must be paramount. International humanitarian law demands it,” she said.

“Following decades of repression, armed conflict and deprivation, the people of Sudan must not be subjected to further violations of their fundamental human rights. We call on all those with influence to use every possible means to de-escalate the situation and to stand in solidarity with the Sudanese people in their demands for a peaceful and democratic future,” the spokesperson said.

“The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, highlights the deep yearning and determination for freedom of the Sudanese people – who overthrew a military dictatorship of 30 years and resisted the subsequent military takeover with great courage. It is unfathomable that once again force is being used against them. The guns must be silenced, and reason must prevail,” she said.

END

For more information and media requests, please contact: 

In Geneva

Ravina Shamdasani - + 41 22 917 9169 / ravina.shamdasani@un.org or 

Liz Throssell + 41 22 917 9296 / elizabeth.throssell@un.org or 

Jeremy Laurence +  +41 22 917 9383 / jeremy.laurence@un.org or

Marta Hurtado - + 41 22 917 9466 / marta.hurtadogomez@un.org

In Nairobi

Seif Magango - +254 788 343 897 / seif.magango@un.org

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