GENEVA - UN experts* have condemned today the sharp rise in violence against civilians in Sudan, as the humanitarian situation precipitated by the conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) reaches catastrophic levels.
"An unprecedented 11 million people, over half of them children, are now internally displaced amidst a conflict characterised by wholesale disregard for international humanitarian and human rights law," the experts said.
"The indiscriminate use of artillery, airstrikes, and explosive weaponry by all parties provokes immediate casualties and exposes civilians to the long-term threat of unexploded ordnance. Siege tactics such as those deployed against El Fasher city, and both parties' draconian restrictions on humanitarian aid, occupation or destruction of agricultural land, and attacks against humanitarian workers have fuelled a man-made famine."
The experts deplored the explicit targeting of vulnerable civilians during the conflict.
"We strongly condemn the RSF's latest attacks in Gezira State. We have received disturbing reports of civilians subjected to forced displacement, torture and ill-treatment, summary executions, and arbitrary detention, based on their ethnicity," the experts said. "This adds to a growing pattern of atrocities against ethnic minorities that may amount to crimes against humanity."
"We continue to be deeply disturbed by the systematic use of sexual violence as a weapon of war, recently in Gezira State and more broadly during the conflict, and particularly by the RSF. This large-scale campaign, predominantly targeting women and girls, has been found to include rape, sexual slavery, forced marriage, and human trafficking under conditions of extreme violence that would amount to torture."
The experts noted that the breakdown of law and order precipitated by the conflict has exposed civilians to generalised insecurity and violence, including armed robberies, looting, extortion, and sexual and gender-based violence perpetrated by criminal actors, as well as violent farmer-herder clashes. They also voiced concern that civilians recently displaced by severe seasonal flooding could face a cholera outbreak.
"The people of Sudan are facing an impossible situation, caught between conflict, famine, crime, disasters, and disease," the experts said.
"The SAF and the RSF must end their assault on civilians, ensure unfettered access to humanitarian aid, prevent and ensure accountability for conflict-related sexual violence and provide victims with protection, assistance, and remedy, and work towards a ceasefire, inclusive political negotiations, the restoration of law and order, and ensuring accountability for violations of international humanitarian and human rights law. The international community must support these efforts through mediation and diplomacy and funding the humanitarian response, and ending illicit arms transfers to the parties."
