UN: appalling human rights violations in Sudan
Published: Friday, Sep 6th 2024, 13:50
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Two generals are fighting for supremacy in Sudan regardless of casualties. The civilian population lives in fear and terror. A UN commission is now documenting atrocities.
According to a UN report, at least 18,800 people have died in the power struggle between the government and militias in Sudan since April 2023. The warring parties and their allies are responsible for "an appalling level of shocking human rights violations", reported the UN Human Rights Office in Geneva.
Both the armed forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia had targeted civilians and aid workers, according to the report by a commission of inquiry. These are serious violations of international humanitarian law. They include war crimes such as sexual violence, torture, ill-treatment, murder and mutilation.
Power struggle rages
A power struggle between rival generals has been raging in Africa's third-largest country since April 2023. More than ten million people have been displaced, two million of whom have fled across the borders to neighboring countries. Humanitarian organizations are warning of an incipient famine.
The experts accuse the RSF militia and its allies of violence against people based on their ethnicity in West Darfur. The victims there are primarily the Masalit population group. The militia is responsible for numerous rapes. The victims were between eight and 75 years old. The RSF had forced children under the age of 15 to serve in the armed forces, displaced people, forced some to serve as slaves and looted.
Soldiers and tribunal called for
The chairman of the commission, Mohamed Chande Othman, called for the deployment of an independent force with the task of protecting civilians. He also called for a tribunal to investigate perpetrators alongside the International Criminal Court.
Last fall, the UN Human Rights Council commissioned an expert report on the situation in the resource-rich country. A commission set up for this purpose visited the neighboring countries of Chad, Kenya and Uganda and conducted 182 interviews, including with refugees, humanitarian aid workers and other eyewitnesses. Requests for permission to visit the country itself were ignored, the commission reported.
"We must not look away when people start eating sand out of desperation," said the German ambassador in Geneva, Katharina Stasch. "I make an urgent appeal to the warring parties: Stop the bloodshed and finally sit down at the negotiating table."
©Keystone/SDA
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