UN rights chief sounds alarm over killing of civilians in Sudan war

Violence spills to South Sudan with revenge killings against Sudanese refugees

Senior officials of the South Sudan People's Defence Forces visit Sudanese nationals seeking safety at the army headquarters after a night of violence in Juba, South Sudan, on Friday. AP

Civilians in Sudan are increasingly being targeted in the battle for supremacy between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk has warned.

“As the SAF and the RSF battle for control at all costs in the senseless war that has raged for close to two years now, direct and ethnically motivated attacks on civilians are becoming increasingly common,” Mr Turk said on Friday.

The conflict, which erupted in April 2023, has taken a dangerous turn for civilians over the past week, with reports of dozens killed in ethnically targeted attacks in the south-eastern state of Al Jazira. The UN Human Rights Office documented at least 21 deaths in just two attacks in the state within the past week.

The SAF recently recaptured Al Jazira's capital, Wad Medani, but the RSF still holds several areas in the strategic province south of Khartoum.

The Emergency Lawyers group, a pro-democracy organisation documenting the conflict, reported that 15 people were killed and more than 20 wounded when RSF fighters attacked Al Khizan village on Wednesday, forcing its residents to flee.

SAF fighters attacked natives of Sudan's Darfur region in Al Jazira after taking Wad Medani last week. Video footage widely circulated online shows fighters murdering and humiliating Darfur natives, who they accused of having RSF sympathies.

The attacks were condemned by Sudanese rights groups and the UN. The army said it would launch an investigation and punish those responsible.

Violence spreads to South Sudan

Videos allegedly showing SAF fighters of Arab descent killing and humiliating South Sudanese citizens of black African descent in Wad Medani led to revenge killings against Sudanese refugees in South Sudan. Angry mobs in the capital, Juba, attacked Sudanese-owned businesses and homes on Friday, resulting in three deaths and seven injuries.

Tension has been high between the two ethnic groups amid continuing arrivals of Sudanese escaping the violence at home. The UN said in October that the number of Sudanese refugees in South Sudan had exceeded half a million.

South Sudan's President Salva Kiir called for calm and urged citizens not to take the law into their own hands. The government instituted a dusk-to-dawn curfew in Juba and deployed forces to protect Sudanese people and property. The Sudanese Foreign Ministry thanked the South Sudanese government for its co-operation and warning Sudanese citizens to take precautions.

The US on Friday imposed sanctions on Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan, the leader of the SAF, for his involvement in the civil war. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused the SAF of committing war crimes following the killings in Wad Medani.

Sudan's Foreign Ministry criticised the sanctions as “immoral and lacking in fairness and objectivity”, saying they “make light of the Sudanese people” and “practically support those who commit genocide”, alluding to accusations against the RSF.

The SAF-affiliated Sudanese General Intelligence Service also condemned the sanctions, saying the US was meddling in the country's affairs at a sensitive time when the populace supports the armed forces.

The conflict has created one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world, with about half of Sudan's population in need of assistance and protection. Tens of thousands have been killed, and more than 11.5 million people have been displaced since the war began.