UN report details paramilitary group RSF atrocities in Sudan
Delegates representing political parties affiliated to Sudan's Rapid Support Forces react to greetings at KICC, Nairobi on February 18, 2025, ahead of the planned signing of the Government of Peace and Unity Charter.
What you need to know:
- The report also points out that both SAF and RAF have violated humanitarian law by launching attacks on densely populated areas occupied by civilians.
- “Parties to the conflict continued to launch attacks on densely populated areas, often without prior warning, and to use explosive weapons with wide-area effects, particularly in Khartoum State, the Darfur region, and some areas of the Kordofan region, raising serious concerns regarding respect by the parties for the principles of distinction, proportionality, and precaution under international humanitarian law,” read the report.
As Sudan’s paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF) plans to announce a parallel government for Sudan from Nairobi, a new United Nations report documenting civilian deaths, executions, sexual violence and forceful recruitment of children has lifted the lid on widespread rights violations carried out by the group in Sudan.
A report published by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR) reports that since May 2024 when the war broke out, 832 civilians had been killed, including at least 79 women and 111 children, and 1,678 others had been injured, including at least 45 women and 36 children.
This was caused by the launch of airstrikes and heavy artillery shelling on civilian infrastructure.
“For example, the Abu Shouk camp for internally displaced persons in El Fasher came under shelling by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on at least two separate occasions, on 22 May and 27 August 2024, initially killing 24 persons, including at least eight children and two women, and injuring at least 30 others. The attacks were reportedly launched to target a commander from a splinter faction of the Sudan Liberation Army-Abdul Wahid belonging to the Fur tribe, who allegedly maintained a presence inside the camp,” read the report.
In July 2024, the report says, several artillery shells were reportedly fired by RSF and they fell on the nearby livestock market of Al-Mawashi and the surrounding neighbourhoods in El Fasher, killing at least 43 civilians, including two boys and one girl, and injuring at least 97 others.
On September 26, 2024, the report also documents that the same market and surrounding neighbourhoods were hit by artillery shells reportedly fired by the RSF, killing 27 civilians, including 5 children and 4 women.
Several civilians and villages were also destroyed as the RSF took control of several villages in Sudan.
UNHCR reports that while attempting to take control of villages and localities in several states, including Al-Gazira, North Darfur, Sennar, West Kordofan, and White Nile States, civilians who took arms to defend themselves were killed and injured.
On August 15, over 80 people were killed in Jalagani village including 24 women and children, the report adds.
This, even as Sudan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday warned Kenya against the use of Kenyan soil as the launching pad for a parallel government.
“Given that the stated objective of this agreement is to establish a parallel government on part of Sudanese territory, this move promotes the dismembering of African states, violates their sovereignty, and interferes in their internal affairs,” read a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sudan.
General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, the leader of Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), on Wednesday also waded into the ongoing battle insisting that ‘some’ of the countries intervening in Sudan’s affair were assisted by the country to gain its independence.
“Sudan was among the first countries to gain its independence in the African continent and is among the countries that contributed to effectively liberating most of the African countries which are now picking on Sudan and trying to intervene in Sudan’s affairs. Outside solutions won’t be forced on Sudanese people. I am sending a message to the African Union and United Nations; the Sudanese people won’t accept imposing any government,” General Al Burhan said.
A total of 88 violent attacks by both RSF and SAF on schools were recorded by the human rights body.
They include the killing of 14 civilians following a launch of airstrikes by SAF and shelling by RSF that affected the Abu Sitta girls’ school in El Obeid, North Kordofan State, killing 10 girls and one teacher, and injuring 10 girls and two teachers.
The conflict has also led to food insecurity in the region with an estimated 25.6 million people facing high levels of acute food insecurity between June and September 2024.
The report also points out that both SAF and RAF have violated humanitarian law by launching attacks on densely populated areas occupied by civilians.
“Parties to the conflict continued to launch attacks on densely populated areas, often without prior warning, and to use explosive weapons with wide-area effects, particularly in Khartoum State, the Darfur region, and some areas of the Kordofan region, raising serious concerns regarding respect by the parties for the principles of distinction, proportionality, and precaution under international humanitarian law,” read the report.
The report is expected to be tabled during the Human Rights Council's Fifty-eighth session on February 24.