A Sudanese investigation committee has failed to adequately address abuses committed by the country’s armed forces, creating concerns over its transparency and impartiality, the UN expert on human rights in Sudan said.
Radhouane Nouicer, the designated expert on Sudan by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said authorities had established a committee to investigate breaches but that the cases documented appeared heavily weighted towards abuses committed by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
“As far as we know, [the committee] documented tens of thousands of cases, and what we have noticed is that all these cases belong to the Rapid Support Forces,” Mr Nouicer told Sky News Arabia. “We have seen only a few hundred documented cases involving members of the Sudanese Armed Forces [SAF].”
He said the imbalance raised questions over the “transparency and fairness” of the committee investigating human rights violations during Sudan’s war.
The comments come as the conflict between the SAF, led by Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan, and the RSF, led by Gen Mohamed Dagalo, continues to generate widespread abuses against civilians.
The war in Sudan erupted in April 2023 after a power struggle between Gen Al Burhan and Gen Dagalo. Fighting began in Khartoum before spreading across the country, including Darfur, where UN investigators have documented abuses by the RSF that they said amount to war crimes.
The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced millions and created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with both sides accused of serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.
Arbitrary arrests
Mr Nouicer highlighted growing concerns over arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances and torture, saying many people were being held on allegations of having co-operated with the opposing side.
“For many prisoners, the only charge brought against them is that they co-operated with the other side,” he said.
He added that some people had disappeared without their families knowing where they were or whether they were still alive. “The unfortunate thing is that there are cases of enforced disappearance where you do not know whether the person is alive, and even their family has no information about them,” said Mr Nouicer.
The UN expert also said the nature of breaches had changed as the war continued and expanded into new areas, particularly with the increased use of aircraft and drones.
“We documented more than 1,000 deaths as a result of the use of aircraft and drones” from the beginning of 2026 until now, he added.
Mr Nouicer said he observed the extensive destruction of civilian buildings in Khartoum, adding that some of the damage had no apparent military or strategic justification.
The UN has repeatedly warned of escalating attacks on civilians. International efforts have been unable to bring the war to an end.
This month, the SAF faced new evidence over its alleged use of chemical weapons. Reports published by The New York Times and The Washington Post revealed the SAF had used chemical weapons in the devastating war and also built a secret stockpile that it has since sought to conceal.
Separately, a recent UN fact-finding report revealed that the SAF had used foreign-supplied drones in operations that harmed civilians. The report equally repeated that external players had supported the RSF by enabling arms transfers.
