SUDAN – The chair of the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Sudan, Mohamed Chande Othman, has warned that the conflict in Sudan amounts to a “war of atrocities,” marked by grave violations that rise to the level of war crimes.
Speaking before the 60th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Othman said civilians in Sudan ” do not only find themselves in the line of fire, but are also deliberately targeted, forcibly displaced, and deprived on food.” He stressed that both the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), along with their allies, have committed war crimes, including arbitrary detention, torture, and inhumane treatment.
Othman underscored that sexual and gender-based violence has been a defining feature of the conflict. “Sexual and gender-based violence has been a prominent feature of this war,” he said. The mission has documented cases of rape, gang rape, and sexual slavery, abduction, and forced marriage carried out by RSF fighters. Many of the victims were women and girls from non-Arab communities, some as young as 12 years old.
While most abuses of this kind have been attributed to the RSF, Othamn also pointed to evidence of sexual violence committed by SAF members particularly in detention centers.
He further described what he called “one of the gravest hunger emergencies in modern history,” with civilians deliberately deprived of food and medicine. Markets have been attacked, the health system destroyed, and aid delivery obstructed.
“These are not collateral damages,” Othman told the council. “In the case of the Sudanese Armed Forces, such acts reflect a failure to minimize civilian harm. In the case of the Rapid Support Forces, they are part of a deliberate strategy to deprive civilians of the means to survive. Some of these acts amount to the war crime of starvation. Moreover, the systematic denial of food and medicine, alongside obstruction of humanitarian aid, may amount to the crime against humanity of extermination.”
The mission’s report lays out a roadmap built on four pillars: ending violence and protecting civilians, ensuring international commitment to an arms and material embargo, facilitating a comprehensive peace process, and documenting violations while supporting victims.
Sudan has been engulfed in conflict since mid-April 2023, when clashes erupted between the RSF and SAF. The war has triggered an unprecedented humanitarian crisis. According to UN figures, the conflict has caused the world’s worst displacement and hunger emergencies, with famine threatening half of Sudan’s population and confirmed in some regions. More than 11 million people have been displaced internally and across borders.
Although fighting has receded in central Sudan since the beginning of this year, violence continues across much of the country, leaving civilians to bear the brunt of the devastation.
