The United Nations’ top human rights official warned on Thursday of “another wave of atrocities” in Sudan’s civil war as paramilitary groups intensify an offensive on an oil-rich crucial region bordering Darfur.
One of the groups, the Rapid Support Forces, seized the famine-stricken city of El Fasher from the Sudanese military in October, unleashing widespread violence against civilians. Heavy fighting has now surged across the sprawling Kordofan region, which connects central Sudan to Darfur.
A Sudanese woman displaced from El Fasher collects food aid at El Afadh refugee camp.Credit: AP
“It is truly shocking to see history repeating itself in Kordofan so soon after the horrific events in El Fasher,” UN human rights chief Volker Türk said. “We must not allow Kordofan to become another El Fasher.”
The region is important for both sides of the conflict. To regain its territorial foothold in Darfur, the Sudanese military will need to secure key routes through Kordofan. Control of the region would allow the Rapid Support Forces to build on its momentum and choke the flow of movement between the centre of the country and Darfur.
Nearly 40,000 people have been displaced in the state of North Kordofan, where paramilitary forces captured the city of Bara in late October, according to the International Organisation for Migration. The UN has documented deaths from aerial strikes, shelling and summary executions, and believes the number of civilian casualties is likely to be “much higher” than what is being officially recorded.
In West Kordofan, the Rapid Support Forces said last Monday that it had claimed the town of Babnusa, a key economic centre. The Sudanese Armed Forces denied last Tuesday that it had lost control of Babnusa, saying that fighting was still taking place.
And in South Kordofan, civilians in the towns of Kadugli and Dilling have been trapped in “siege conditions”, according to UNICEF, with those trying to escape facing dangerous conditions.
The UN said it received reports of a drone strike by the Sudanese military in South Kordofan on Saturday, which killed at least 48 people. Separately, the Sudan Doctors Network, a medical advocacy group, said in a statement on Thursday that a strike by the Rapid Support Forces on a kindergarten killed nine people, including four children.
