Both sides in Sudan's civil war have committed abuses on a large scale which may amount to war crimes or crimes against humanity, a U.N.-mandated mission said on Friday, recommending an arms embargo and a peacekeeping force to protect civilians.
Khartoum, the Capital of Sudan © Mena Today
Both sides in Sudan's civil war have committed abuses on a large scale which may amount to war crimes or crimes against humanity, a U.N.-mandated mission said on Friday, recommending an arms embargo and a peacekeeping force to protect civilians.
The 19-page report by a UN Fact-Finding Mission, based on 182 interviews with survivors, their family members and witnesses, said that both the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) were responsible for attacks on civilians and had used torture and carried out arbitrary arrests.
"The gravity of these findings underscores the urgent and immediate action to protect civilians," said the mission's chair Mohamed Chande Othman, calling for an independent and impartial force to be deployed without delay.
The report is the three-member mission’s first since its creation in October 2023 by the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Civilians in Sudan are facing worsening famine, mass displacement and disease after 17 months of war between the army and the RSF paramilitary.
U.S.-led mediators said last month that they had secured guarantees from both parties at talks in Switzerland to improve access for humanitarian aid, but that the Sudanese army's absence from the discussions had hindered progress.
Reporting by Emma Farge
Human Rights Watch has accused an Abu Dhabi-based security company of recruiting Colombian private military contractors and deploying them to fight alongside Sudan's Rapid Support Forces (RSF) between 2024 and 2025, adding to what the rights group describes as a growing body of evidence of Emirati military support for the paramilitary group.
Farmers across Sudan say the hike in global fuel and fertilizer costs resulting from the Iran conflict will force them to cut back on planting this summer, restricting food production in a country where war has caused acute hunger.
At least nine people were killed and six others injured when a four-storey building collapsed overnight in the Moroccan city of Fez, about 200 kilometres (124 miles) east of Rabat, local authorities said on Thursday.
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