UN Report: Violations Committed by Warring Parties in Sudan Could Amount to War Crimes

Army commander Abdel Fattah al-Burhan (left) and RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti) in 2019 (AFP)

Both sides in Sudan's civil war have committed abuses that may amount to war crimes including indiscriminate attacks on civilian sites like hospitals, markets and even camps for the displaced, the UN human rights office said on Friday.
Efforts have so far failed to end the 10-month-old conflict that pits Sudan's regular armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Thousands of people have been killed and some six million forced to flee their homes, making it the country with the largest displaced population in the world.
“Some of these violations would amount to war crimes,” Volker Turk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a statement accompanying a report. “The guns must be silenced, and civilians must be protected.”
The US has already formally determined that the warring parties have committed war crimes and said the RSF and allied militias were involved in ethnic cleansing in West Darfur.
Both sides have said they would investigate reports of killings and abuses and prosecute any fighters found to be involved.
The United Nations report is based on interviews with over 300 victims and witnesses as well as footage and satellite imagery.
It says that sometimes those fleeing for their lives or displaced by the violence became victims of explosive weapons attacks.
Women and Children
In one incident, dozens of displaced people were killed when their camp in Zalingei, Darfur was shelled by the RSF between Sept. 14-17, the report said. Some 26 civilians, mostly women and children, were killed on Aug. 22 by shells reportedly fired by the Sudanese Armed Forces while sheltering under a bridge.
The report also says the RSF had adopted a military strategy of using human shields, citing testimonies of victims involved.
It describes incidents in the capital Khartoum where dozens of individuals were arrested and placed near RSF military posts to deter air strikes from Sudanese fighter jets.
UN investigators have so far documented cases of sexual violence affecting 118 people, including one women who was detained and repeatedly gang-raped for weeks. Many of the rapes were committed by RSF members, the report said.
The war in Sudan erupted last April over disputes about the powers of the army and the RSF under an internationally-backed plan for a political transition towards civilian rule and elections.
Resumption of Jeddah Talks
Separately, sources revealed on Friday that negotiations between the army and the RSF will resume through the Jeddah platform early in March.
The sources, who asked not to be identified, told the Arab World Press that the two sides will discuss in Jeddah the document signed last month in the Bahraini capital, Manama, between the army representative General Shamseldin Kabbashi and the RSF representative General Abdelrahim Dagalo, a brother of RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
The document includes a declaration of principles including maintaining the unity of Sudan and its military. It also agreed on the arrest of Muslim Brotherhood leaders, including those wanted by the International Criminal Court, and the dismantling of the Islamic Movement regime.
The sources expressed concerns that the Muslim Brotherhood leadership would obstruct the negotiations, noting that such attempts were made in previous rounds of talks.
Since May 2023, Saudi Arabia and the US co-facilitated talks in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, between representatives of the Sudanese army and the RSF.
Entebbe Workshop
Also, the sources told the Arab World Press that the Rapid Support Forces held a workshop in the Ugandan city of Entebbe, from February 15 to 20.
The workshop was attended by RSF members who participated in the Jeddah Platform talks, in addition to all members of the Commander’s advisory bureau, the tribal communities in the regions of Kordofan and Darfur fighting alongside the RSF, and media activists.