In two weeks this month, more than 480 civilians have been killed in attacks in Sudan’s North Darfur region, with some of the attacks being ethnically motivated, according to the UN.
The UN human rights office reported on Friday that “the actual number is likely much higher” and that at least 481 civilians have been killed in North Darfur since April 10.
Additionally, it described the region’s high rates of sexual violence, including those committed against young boys and girls, as “horrifying.”
UN rights chief Volker Turk stated in the statement that “the suffering of the Sudanese people is hard to imagine, harder to comprehend, and simply impossible to accept.”
North Darfur has turned into a crucial battleground for the conflict that broke out between the Sudanese army, led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by al-Burhan’s former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.
The conflict, which the UN describes as the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, has resulted in tens of thousands of casualties.
“Range reports of sexual violence everywhere”
Between April 11 and April 13, one of the most recent bloody assaults took place at the Zamzam displacement camp. According to the UN rights office, that attack claimed the lives of at least 210 civilians, including nine medical professionals. Turnk cited reports of “women, girls, and boys being raped or gang-raped there or as they attempted to flee”
According to the UN, 129 more civilians were killed this week in El-Fasher City, Um Kedada District, and the displacement camp for the Abu Shouk.
According to the statement, some of the most recent attacks were “ethnically motivated,” with particular communities targeted.
The rising number of civilian casualties and the widespread reports of sexual violence, according to Turk, are horrifying.
Additionally, according to the UN, “dozens of people reported to have died in detention facilities run by the RSF or “while walking for days in harsh conditions in an attempt to flee violence” in detention facilities.”
Dire circumstances
According to the UN’s rights office, hundreds of thousands of civilians have been forced to flee their homes as a result of the conflict.
The displaced “face dire conditions” amid persistent restrictions on humanitarian aid for the needy, it said.
The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) earlier on Friday warned that due to funding constraints, it may have to reduce its food support in the coming weeks.
According to the organization, rations in areas where famine is possible have been reduced to 70% of a typical WFP ration (i.e., 2,100 kcal per day).
According to Turk, Turk’s claim that Turk’s continued attacks that target humanitarian workers and medical personnel also threaten the aid response.
He claimed that “medical workers are themselves in danger, and even water sources have been purposefully attacked, and that the systems to assist victims in many areas are on the verge of collapse.”
The UN’s assessment comes a day after UK Foreign Minister David Lammy warned that Darfur’s violence “could be the results of ethnic cleansing” and may constitute crimes against humanity.
Source: Aljazeera
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