UN Human Rights Spokesperson Seif Magango on the armed conflict in Sudan

“A report published this morning by our Office details multiple indiscriminate attacks by both the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces in densely-populated areas, including sites sheltering internally displaced people – particularly in the capital Khartoum, in Omdurman, Kordorfan and Darfur during fighting between April and December 2023,” said Magango, speaking from Nairobi.

“Just this week, credible video evidence reviewed by our Office shows that several students travelling by road in North Kordofan State may have been beheaded by men in SAF uniform in El-Obeid City, based on their perceived ethnicity as being RSF supporters. The video footage which was posted on social media on 15 February shows troops parading with decapitated heads in the street while chanting ethnic slurs,” he said.

In Darfur, thousands have been killed in RSF attacks, some of which were ethnically motivated. The report finds that between May and November 2023, the RSF and its allied Arab militia carried out at least 10 attacks against civilians in El-Geneina, the capital of West Darfur, killing thousands of people, most of them from the African Masalit ethnic community. There were also killings by the RSF and its allies in the town of Morni and in Ardamata – where at least 87 bodies were buried in a mass grave.

“By mid-December, more than 6.7 million people had been displaced by the conflict – both within Sudan and into neighbouring countries. This number has since increased to more than eight million,” the spokesperson said.

The report cites the “People’s Authority to Support the Sudanese Armed Forces”, a pro-SAF entity, as stating that it had armed 255,000 young men in camps across Sudan. Children were also recruited by the RSF from Arab tribes in Darfur and Kordofan. African ethnic communities, including the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa also reportedly responded to recruitment campaigns by the SAF, it finds.

“There must be prompt, thorough, effective, transparent, independent and impartial investigations into all allegations of violations and abuses of international human rights and violations of international humanitarian law and those responsible must be brought to justice,” Magango said.

ENDS

In Geneva:

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

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

Thameen Al-Kheetan - + 41 76 223 77 62 / thameen.alkheetan@un.org

In Nairobi:

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

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