The warring parties have committed “horrific human rights violations” that could amount to war crimes, a report says.
UN-backed human rights experts have called for an “independent and impartial force” in Sudan and an extension of an arms embargo to protect civilians in the escalating conflict.
The warring parties had committed “horrific human rights violations and international crimes, many of which may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity,” the United Nations Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Sudan said in its first report on Friday.
He urged the force to be deployed “without delay” but did not specify who might take part.
The conflict that began in April last year between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, has spread to 14 of the 18 states, killing tens of thousands of people and displacing millions.
The mission's 19-page report, based on 182 interviews with survivors, their relatives and witnesses conducted between January and August 2024, said both the SAF and RSF were responsible for attacks against civilians “through rape and other forms of sexual violence, arbitrary arrests and detention, as well as torture and ill-treatment.”
The three-member team, appointed by the UN Human Rights Council in October 2023, found evidence of “indiscriminate” airstrikes and shelling against civilian targets, including schools and hospitals, as well as water and electricity supplies.
They accused the RSF and its allied militias of committing “numerous crimes against humanity,” including “murder, torture, enslavement, rape, sexual slavery, other acts of sexual violence of comparable gravity, ethnic and gender-based persecution, and forced displacement.”
The experts also called for an arms embargo imposed on the long-conflict western region of Darfur to be extended to the entire country, saying fighting would cease “once the flow of weapons is stopped.”
The supply of arms, ammunition and other support to either side must be stopped immediately, they said.
The mission did not indicate which countries might be complicit in the crimes by backing rival factions. Sudan's military has accused the United Arab Emirates of supporting the RSF, an accusation the Gulf state has denied.
'Wake-up call'
In August, the United States convened talks in Switzerland aimed at ending the war and achieving progress on aid access, but not a ceasefire.
He also announced visa sanctions for an unspecified number of people in South Sudan, including government officials accused of obstructing the delivery of humanitarian aid to 25 million Sudanese facing extreme hunger.
Friday's report said Sudanese authorities should fully cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC) by handing over all defendants, including former President Omar al-Bashir, who was ousted in 2019.
Efforts by Sudanese authorities to investigate and prosecute those responsible for international crimes have been “marred by a lack of will characterised by selective justice and a lack of impartiality,” he said.
Mission member Mona Rishmawi said the report “should serve as a wake-up call to the international community to take decisive action to support survivors, their families and affected communities, and to hold perpetrators accountable.”
