UN rights commissioner condemns RSF attacks on Sudan civilians amid ongoing conflict News
Medhus, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
UN rights commissioner condemns RSF attacks on Sudan civilians amid ongoing conflict

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on Friday condemned the killing and injuring of scores of civilians in El Fasher, following attacks by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

In a statement,  Türk noted that the repeated calls to the RSF on protecting civilians have not been upheld by the paramilitary group that instead “kills, injures, and displaces civilians.”

Additionally, Türk urged the RSF to draw lessons from the conviction of Ali Kushayb by the International Criminal Court (ICC), on his involvement in war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Darfur. Türk has repeatedly cautioned in the past that Darfur’s civilians are at risk of mass atrocities if the siege continues.

At least 53 civilians were killed by the RSF on Friday in El Fasher, North Darfur’s capital, including women and children, whereas hundreds of families remain trapped within the besieged city, facing starvation, disease, and constant bombardment.

In international humanitarian law, mass starvation, when deliberate, can fall under the Genocide Convention. More specifically, the convention defines genocide as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group,” with the siege potentially qualifying as such if deliberate and systematic.

Darfur is home to a mix of ethnic groups, including Arabs and non-Arab African communities, such as Fur, Masalit, and Zaghawa. The conflict began in 2003 when two rebel groups, the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), clashed against the Sudanese government, accused of marginalizing and denying political representation to the non-Arab ethnic groups.

In response, then-President Omar al-Bashir counteracted with a brutal campaign of atrocities, mass killings, rape, and forced displacement, relying heavily on the Janjaweed, an Arab militia that in 2013 was formalized into the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Since then, the force has evolved into one of Sudan’s most powerful armed groups, remaining integrated but largely autonomous from the Sudanese Army.

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