GENEVA, Switzerland: Nearly 500 civilians have been confirmed killed in Sudan’s North Darfur in the past two weeks, the United Nations said Friday, condemning “horrifying” numbers of deaths and widespread sexual violence.
The UN human rights office said it had listed at least 481 civilians killed in North Darfur since April 10 and that “the actual number is likely much higher”.
The state has become a key battleground in the war that erupted on April 15, 2023, between the regular army, led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), headed by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.
The UN said its toll includes “at least 210 civilians, including nine medical professionals” killed in the Zamzam displacement camp between April 11-13.
It also included “at least 129 civilians” killed between Sunday and Thursday this week in El Fasher City, Um Kedada district, and the Abu Shouk displacement camp, the rights office said in a statement.
In addition, it said, “dozens of people were reported to have died due to lack of food, water and medical care” in detention facilities run by the RSF or “while walking for days in harsh conditions in an attempt to flee violence”.
The war has left tens of thousands dead and triggered what aid agencies describe as the world’s largest displacement and hunger crises.
The rights office said the North Darfur fighting had displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians, many of whom had already fled their homes during the conflict.
The displaced “face dire conditions amid continued restrictions on access to lifesaving humanitarian assistance,” it said.
“The rising number of civilian casualties and the widespread reports of sexual violence are horrifying,” UN rights chief Volker Turk said in the statement.
His office, he said, had “heard accounts of people being abducted from Zamzam IDP camp and of women, girls, and boys being raped or gang raped there or as they tried to escape the attacks”.
Turk also voiced his grave concern at continued attacks on humanitarian workers and medical personnel.
“The systems to assist victims in many areas are on the verge of collapse, medical workers are themselves under threat and even water sources have been deliberately attacked,” he said.
“The suffering of the Sudanese people is hard to imagine, harder to comprehend, and simply impossible to accept.”
