U.N. Human Rights Chief Volker Türk described the horror unfolding in Sudan as knowing “no bounds.”
In a statement Thursday, Türk said he had personally alerted leaders of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) about the catastrophic human rights consequences of their war.
“These harrowing consequences are a daily, lived reality for millions of Sudanese. It is well past time for this conflict to stop,” he said.
Türk noted that the RSF launched coordinated attacks from multiple directions three days ago on the besieged city of El Fasher and Abu Shouk camp, killing at least 40 civilians. The attack raised the confirmed number of civilians killed in North Darfur to at least 542 in the past three weeks, he added.
“My fears are all the greater given the ominous warning by the RSF of ‘bloodshed’ ahead of imminent battles with the Sudanese Armed Forces and their allied armed movements,” he said.
The rights chief urged that everything must be done to protect civilians trapped in dire conditions in and around El Fasher.
Reports of extrajudicial executions in Khartoum state were also deeply disturbing, he said.
Videos circulating on social media show at least 30 men in civilian clothing being rounded up and executed by armed men in RSF uniforms in Al Salha, southern Omdurman. In a subsequent video, an RSF field commander acknowledged the killings.
The incidents followed recent reports of the extrajudicial execution of dozens of people accused of collaborating with the RSF in southern Khartoum, allegedly committed by the Al Baraa Brigade.