Nearly 40 non-governmental organizations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have warned of the risk of imminent atrocities in Sudan’s major city of El Obeid, amid growing fears that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are preparing to launch an attack in the near future.
In a letter addressed to member states of the UN Human Rights Council, the 38 organizations urged the Council to “urgently consider the situation in El Obeid and its surrounding areas” and take the necessary measures “to prevent the commission of atrocities.”
The organizations also called on the Council to hold accountable “external actors supporting the warring parties” in order to prevent further atrocities.
For months, El Obeid, located in the Kordofan region, has remained under siege by the RSF, which has been at war with the Sudanese Armed Forces since April 2023.
The conflict, now in its fourth year, has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced more than 12 million, and triggered what the United Nations describes as the world’s worst displacement and hunger crisis.
Fighting has intensified in recent months across the Kordofan region and Blue Nile State near the Ethiopian border, particularly after the RSF captured El Fasher last October, the army’s last major stronghold in western Darfur.
Both sides are battling for control of the resource-rich cities of Kordofan.
The RSF has been accused of committing atrocities during its takeover of El Fasher, while a UN fact-finding mission reported acts amounting to “genocide.”
Last Tuesday, seven European countries, including France and the United Kingdom, called on the RSF to halt its advance “immediately,” while the United States warned on Monday of the risk of “large-scale atrocities.”
The UN Security Council also expressed concern last Saturday and urged the RSF, which continues to besiege the area, to withdraw.
In their letter, the organizations warned that El Obeid and its surrounding areas face “the imminent threat of an attack by the RSF and allied forces after 18 months of an almost complete siege.” They stressed that, amid mounting warnings of further atrocities and violations in Sudan, the Human Rights Council should hold an urgent debate during its current 62nd session or convene a special session without delay.
The organizations further emphasized the need to hold accountable “other external actors supporting the RSF or other parties to the Sudanese conflict, including the Sudanese Armed Forces, for violations they have committed or facilitated, some of which may constitute crimes under international law.”
