31 Killed in Sudanese City of Sennar Reportedly Killed by RSF

Sudan's Rapid Support Forces in the capital Khartoum (file photo- Reuters)
Sudan's Rapid Support Forces in the capital Khartoum (file photo- Reuters)
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31 Killed in Sudanese City of Sennar Reportedly Killed by RSF

Sudan's Rapid Support Forces in the capital Khartoum (file photo- Reuters)
Sudan's Rapid Support Forces in the capital Khartoum (file photo- Reuters)

At least 31 people have been killed and 100 wounded by an assault blamed on the Rapid Support Forces on the city of Sennar in southeastern Sudan on Sunday, a legal activist group said.

Several parts of the city including the main market have been targeted by RSF artillery fire, said Emergency Lawyers, which has monitored civilian deaths and other humanitarian violations, Reuters reported.

The progress of the RSF, which already controls most of Sennar and at least half of the country, has slowed in the southeast as heavy rains have made movement difficult.

Its war with Sudan's army has created the world's largest hunger and internal displacement crises, killing tens of thousands of civilians and destroying most of Sudan's infrastructure and economy.

Emergency Lawyers said the army had killed at least four people in al-Souki, a town near Sennar, during airstrikes. The RSF killed one person and wounded 17 in artillery strikes on el-Obeid, another town it has struggled to assert full control of.

Both sides in Sudan's 18-month-old civil war have committed abuses that may amount to war crimes, a UN-mandated mission said on Friday, calling for peacekeepers and a country-wide arms embargo.

On Saturday, Sudan's army-aligned foreign ministry rejected both recommendations, calling the idea of international peacekeepers "the wish of Sudan's enemies and it will not be fulfilled."



UN Rights Chief Calls on States to Challenge Israel Over Occupation 

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk (L) delivers his speech next to President of the Human Rights Council Moroccan ambassador Omar Zniber at the opening of the 57th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, on September 9, 2024. (AFP)
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk (L) delivers his speech next to President of the Human Rights Council Moroccan ambassador Omar Zniber at the opening of the 57th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, on September 9, 2024. (AFP)
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UN Rights Chief Calls on States to Challenge Israel Over Occupation 

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk (L) delivers his speech next to President of the Human Rights Council Moroccan ambassador Omar Zniber at the opening of the 57th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, on September 9, 2024. (AFP)
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk (L) delivers his speech next to President of the Human Rights Council Moroccan ambassador Omar Zniber at the opening of the 57th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, on September 9, 2024. (AFP)

The UN human rights chief said on Monday that ending the nearly year-long war in Gaza is a priority and he asked countries to act on what he called Israel's "blatant disregard" for international law in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Nearly 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to Gaza health officials, since Israel unleashed a military campaign in response to cross-border attacks by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023 in which 1,200 people were killed and a further 250 taken hostage. 

"Ending that war and averting a full-blown regional conflict is an absolute and urgent priority," the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said in a speech at the opening of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

"States must not – cannot – accept blatant disregard for international law, including binding decisions of the (UN) Security Council and orders of the International Court of Justice, neither in this nor any other situation."

He cited an opinion released by the UN top court in July that called Israel's occupation illegal and said this situation must be "comprehensively addressed". Israel has rejected the opinion and called it one-sided.

Turk's comments were given in a broad speech marking the mid-way point of his four-year term as UN rights chief where he described massive challenges around the world and a crisis of political leadership.

"In every region around the world, we see deep-seated power dynamics at play to grab or hold on to power, at the expense of universal human rights," he said at the start of the five-week session where rights violations in Sudan, Afghanistan and Ukraine will also be debated.