GENEVA (Reuters) – UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk warned Thursday against heavy fighting for the Sudanese city of El Fasher, warning of ethnically motivated violence if it falls into the hands of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) besieging it.
Türk said in a statement: “The fighting must stop immediately. Enough means enough.”
El Fasher is one of five state capitals in the Darfur region (west) and the only one that has not fallen to the RSF, which has been fighting the Sudanese Armed Forces since April 2023.
Darfur, a region the size of France that is home to about a quarter of Sudan’s population, has suffered years of ethnic violence perpetrated by the Janjaweed militia that later formed the nucleus of the RSF.
The Rapid Support Forces launched an offensive last weekend in El Fasher, a city of about two million people, after a months-long siege.
“Based on the bitter experience of the past, if El Fasher falls, there is a high risk of ethnically motivated abuses, including summary executions and sexual violence by the RSF and allied militias,” Türk said.
In particular, he expressed concern about the fate of the residents of Abu Shouk and Zamzam IDP camps.
“People in these camps risk reprisals based on their tribal identities, whether real or presumptive, as they come from the same communities as the leaders of armed movements loyal to the Sudanese Armed Forces,” he said.
The statement said the UN had documented “horrific patterns of ethnically motivated abuses, particularly against the Masalit tribe” after the RSF took control of El Geneina and Erdamta in West Darfur state last year.
As battles for El Fasher intensified, Türk said his office had recorded “an increase in civilian deaths as a result of shelling and air strikes from both sides.”
The UN Human Rights Office also reported that it had documented summary executions, gender-based violence and reports of abductions of at least five women and a number of young men in El Fasher.
“The international community, including through the Security Council, to take the necessary and effective action to protect civilians in Sudan, especially those groups that are particularly at risk. Targeted violence, and to ensure that all parties respect international law.”
(AFP)
