Edited News | OHCHR
“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
Tag and share - Twitter: @UNHumanRights and Facebook: unitednationshumanrights
STORY: UN Human Rights Spokesperson Seif Magango on the armed conflict in Sudan
TRT: 02:04
SOURCE: UNTV/OHCHR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: English/NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 23 February 2024 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
1. Exterior shot : Palais des Nations
2. Wide shot : Briefing room
3. SOUNDBITE (English)—Seif Magango, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): “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.”
4. Cut away: Briefing room.
5. SOUNDBITE (English)—Seif Magango, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): “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.”
6. Cut away: Briefing room.
7. SOUNDBITE (English)—Seif Magango, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): “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. ”
8. Cut away: Briefing room.
9. SOUNDBITE (English)—Seif Magango, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): “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.”
10. Cut away: Briefing room.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
Un nouveau rapport du Haut-Commissariat des Nations Unies aux droits de l'homme sur la République démocratique du Congo évoque le spectre de crimes de guerre et de crimes contre l'humanité dans le Nord et le Sud-Kivu.,
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | HRC
A high-level independent rights probe into the Sudan crisis on Tuesday condemned the many grave crimes committed against civilians by all parties to the war, citing disturbing evidence indicating that they had been “deliberately targeted, displaced and starved”.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
Ukraine: ‘Relentless’ attacks rattle health system as winter approaches: WHO
Ambulances attacked, chronically ill patients lacking care and no peace in sight: for millions of Ukrainians, the run-up to another winter of war is just the latest life-or-death challenge they face, the UN health agency (WHO) said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Monday delivered his report on Sri Lanka to the 60th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Monday delivered his global update to the 60th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
A UN report on the Democratic Republic of Congo raises specter of war crimes and crimes against humanity in North and South Kivu, according to UN Human Rights Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani.
1
1
1
Edited News | WMO
As billions of people continue to breathe polluted air that causes more than 4.5 million premature deaths every year, UN climate experts on Friday highlighted how damaging microscopic smoke particles from wildfires play their part, travelling half-way across the world.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Office Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence made the following comment on the on-going presidential election process in Cameroon at the bi-weekly press briefing in Geneva.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
The UN Human Rights Office released a new report on Myanmar, describing death, destruction and desperation which reflect atrocities committed in 2017.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , IFRC , UNHCR
Afghanistan: Humanitarians scramble to reach survivors of deadly quake; response at ‘breaking point’
In remote eastern Afghanistan, aid workers are racing to assist survivors of Sunday’s devastating earthquake as the death toll continues to climb, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA
The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, repeated his urgent call for a ceasefire in Gaza on Friday, amid increased military Israeli activity in the enclave’s largest city.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , WHO
Amid reports of increased Israeli military operations across Gaza City on Friday, UN aid agencies repeated urgent warnings of ongoing famine and a likely rise in preventable disease, linked to the dire living conditions in the war-shattered enclave.