UN Team Warns of Crimes Against Humanity in Sudan

About a year and a half after the outbreak of civil war in Sudan between the army loyal to the president and his rival in command of the country's rapid reaction force, a UN-affiliated team announced that both sides of the conflict have committed actions on a "large scale" that may constitute "war crimes" and "crimes against humanity." The UN fact-finding mission released a 19-page report on Friday, September 6, at the European headquarters of the organization in Geneva, stating that both sides of the civil war are responsible for attacks on civilians and have exploited them. The report is based on 182 interviews with survivors, family members, and witnesses of wartime events. The team traveled to Chad, Kenya, and Uganda, where many war-displaced Sudanese have fled, to document the testimonies of witnesses and survivors. The members of the team concluded that both the Sudanese army and members of the Rapid Support Forces have committed arbitrary detentions, torture, and endangered civilians in their operations. Mahamed Chande Othman, head of the fact-finding mission, stated during the report presentation in Geneva that neutral and independent forces must be deployed quickly in the war zones of Sudan to protect civilians. According to him, both sides of the conflict have given no refuge to civilians. The widespread prevalence of sexual violence in Khartoum, the war-torn capital of Sudan, has been noted. Since early autumn last year, when Mr. Othman and two of his colleagues were appointed to the UN fact-finding mission to investigate the situation in the Sudanese civil war, this is the first report published by this group. The mission was established about six months after the civil war began. The conflict between the forces of Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the president and army commander in Khartoum, and the paramilitaries led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the commander of the Rapid Support Forces, erupted in early April last year and continues. The UN fact-finding mission report accuses the forces loyal to General Dagalo of committing "war crimes" with actions even more severe than those of the opposing side, including sexual assault, sexual slavery, looting, deliberately displacing civilian populations, and recruiting children under 15 for their military purposes. The war in this country in the Horn of Africa has led to mass displacement, famine, and the outbreak of disease. Currently, at least 14 out of 18 provinces in Sudan are war zones, with eight million residents displaced within the country and at least two million others having fled to neighboring countries. Mona Rishmawi, a member of the fact-finding mission, stated on Friday that her findings and those of her colleagues "should be a wake-up call for the international community to take decisive action." Joy Ngazi Ezeilo, another member of the mission, said during the report presentation that the people of Sudan are facing an "unimaginable disaster" and that a sustainable ceasefire should be prioritized in global efforts. While the international community's attention has been focused on the Gaza war and previously on Russia's invasion of Ukraine over the past year, there is no prospect for an end to the Sudan crisis.