The UN Security Council expressed its concern on Saturday about the “imminent threat of mass atrocities” in Sudan as paramilitary forces advance towards El-Obeid, a town in the Kordofan region.
Located in a strategic area linking central and western Sudan, al-Obeid has been besieged by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) for several months.
“Security Council members expressed concern over the imminent threat of mass atrocities and called on the RSF to immediately cease its attack on al-Obeid,” a Security Council statement said.
dire humanitarian situation in sudan
The statement highlighted reports of an increase in fighting in the Kordofan states, saying it risks exacerbating what the UNSC described as “an already dire humanitarian situation”.
The RSF and the Sudanese army have been fighting each other for control of the country in a bloody civil war since April 2023.
The United Nations has described this conflict as the world’s largest displacement and hunger crisis.
Thousands of people have been killed and more than 11 million have been displaced.
Nearly half of Sudan’s population faces food insecurity.
UN warns against ‘repetition’ of al-Fashar
The UNSC statement came after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday called on the international community to ask Sudan’s warring parties to prevent any more bloodshed.
“We must not allow a repeat of the horrors of Al Fasher in El Obeid,” Guterres said, referring to the RSF’s capture of the town in the Darfur region last year.
According to estimates by the United Nations Human Rights Office, more than 6,000 people were killed in al-Fashar over three days.
The United Nations said the capture of al-Fashar showed “characteristics of genocide”.
Edited by: Zack Crellin