The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on Friday agreed to the deployment of an independent fact-finding mission to the city of Al-Fashar in the wake of alleged atrocities committed by forces involved in armed conflict with the Sudanese army.
The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) attacked troops last month to capture al-Fashar, Sudan’s last stronghold in North Darfur, and reportedly raped, tortured and killed hundreds of people in a single day.
When the UNHRC met in Geneva, Switzerland on Friday, it passed a measure to deploy the mission.
The mission will seek to preserve evidence of potential crimes in the hope of identifying perpetrators and influencing future convictions, which UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said was “a demonstration of the naked brutality used to subjugate and control entire populations.”
Turki said, “The atrocities that are taking place in al-Fashar were anticipated and could have been stopped, but they were not stopped. They are the most serious crimes.”
Turki went a step further on Friday, calling for action against those “profiteering” from the war, whether they are individuals or corporations.
He also warned of increasing violence in the central Sudanese region of Kordofan, which many have already reported mirrors the situation in al-Fashar.
The Kordofan region comprises three states and serves as a buffer between the RSF’s western Darfur strongholds and the army-held states in the east.
Sudan calls out UAE, which denies support for RSF
Sudan’s Permanent Mission in Geneva criticized the UNHCR move, with its ambassador saying it did not do enough to stop external actors from interfering in their country’s affairs.
Sudan’s ambassador called on the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to support RSF rebels, which the UAE denies despite the UN and US describing such allegations as credible.
The new UN resolution also calls on the RSF and the Sudanese army to deliver humanitarian aid to those trapped inside Al-Fashar.
UNHCR’s Turki said this situation was “no surprise”, adding that the RSF had regularly committed “mass killings of civilians, ethnically targeted executions, sexual violence including mass rape, kidnappings for ransom, mass arbitrary detentions, attacks on health facilities, medical staff and humanitarian workers, and other horrific atrocities” since capturing el-Fashar.
The World Food Program (WFP) said on Friday it was increasing assistance to thousands of people fleeing al-Fashar and seeking protection in various locations.
Fighting between the RSF and Sudanese forces that began in 2023 has killed at least 40,000 people, with another 12 million displaced, the UN said.
The UN Human Rights Council, made up of the 47 UN member states, does not have the power to compel compliance, but it can highlight rights violations and document them for possible presentation before bodies such as the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Edited by Shawn Sinico