The United Nations highlighted horrific atrocities in El Fasher, which it classified as “war crimes and crimes against humanity,” with documentation of mass murder, sexual violence, and the use of starvation as a weapon, while the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, warned of the extension of violations to Kordofan, at a time when Britain condemned drone strikes on humanitarian convoys and announced sanctions on those involved in fueling the Sudanese conflict.

Published on: 02/10/2026 - 01:24Last updated: 02/10/2026 - 07:49

On Monday, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, considered that the atrocities committed during the Rapid Support Forces’ seizure of the city of El Fasher in Sudan represented a “disaster” that could have been avoided, warning at the same time of the danger of repeating similar scenes in the Kordofan region.

During his speech before the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Türk stated that his office “has always warned of the risk of mass atrocities in the city of El Fasher, which has been under siege for more than a year.”

The UN official noted that his office had previously documented patterns of these atrocities on numerous occasions, including during the RSF attack to seize Zamzam camp... The threat was clear, but our warnings were ignored.

Several reports indicate that the Rapid Support Forces' attack to control El Fasher was accompanied by mass massacres, rapes, and kidnappings.

Read also: The United Nations counts more than ten thousand displaced people within three days in Sudan

Turk went on to say that "thousands of people were killed within days, and tens of thousands fled in terror," stressing the need to "hold those responsible accountable and ensure that the matter does not happen again."

During a recent visit to Sudan, the High Commissioner explained that he heard directly from the testimonies of survivors of the El Fasher events, noting that "I have rarely seen people so shocked."

According to Türk, survivors “reported mass killings and summary executions of civilians both within the city and while people were fleeing.”

Other accounts stated that "the survivors also saw piles of bodies along the roads leading away from El Fasher, in a disastrous scene that one of them likened to the Day of Resurrection."

The Commission's testimony states that "the Rapid Support Forces systematically used sexual violence as a weapon of war," and Türk's office documented the recruitment of children by these forces and their use in combat.

Regarding the legal adjustment, Türk stressed that his commission’s findings are consistent with the International Criminal Court’s assessment that “war crimes and crimes against humanity” were committed in El Fasher.

The High Commissioner held "the Rapid Support Forces, their allies and those who support them" fully responsible for these atrocities, calling for "the international community to make a greater effort."

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Türk issued a warning, saying: “If we remain idly lamenting our luck while armies and armed groups commit international crimes, we can only expect the worst.”

On a broader level, both sides of the war in Sudan are facing accusations of committing atrocities, at a time when more than 21 million people, or about half of the population, suffer from high levels of acute food insecurity, according to United Nations estimates.

Regarding the dangers in other regions, Volker Türk expressed "deep concern about the possibility of repeating these violations and abuses in the Kordofan region, as the fighting there has intensified since the fall of El Fasher."

Since the Rapid Support Forces took control of El Fasher, the last army stronghold in the vast Darfur region in western Sudan, they have shifted the weight of their operations towards the neighboring Kordofan region, which is a strategic region linking the areas of army control in the north, east and center with Darfur.

During the past two weeks, the Sudanese army and its allies were able to lift the siege on the cities of Kadugli and Dilling, but Turk noted that "both sides continue to carry out strikes with drones, which led to the death and injury of dozens of civilians."

Based on documentation conducted by the Office of the High Commissioner, Turk reported that “during more than two weeks, until February 6, about ninety civilians were killed and 142 injured in march strikes launched by the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces.”

UN data show that these strikes “targeted a World Food Program convoy, markets, health facilities, and residential neighborhoods in South and North Kordofan.”

At the level of international movements, the closed Security Council meetings regarding Sudan were preceded by a statement by the Acting British Ambassador to the United Nations, James Kariuki, in which he said, “This deliberate cruelty was aimed at exacerbating an already intolerable situation. Starvation must never be used as a weapon of war.”

In an intervention from New York, Kariuki, whose country currently holds the rotating presidency of the Security Council, added, “We condemn the recent air strikes launched by drones across Sudan, including the reported attack by the Rapid Support Forces on the World Food Programme, which struck a World Food Program aid convoy on Friday, resulting in the death of an aid worker, and another attack in North Kordofan, which killed 24 people, including eight children.”

The British diplomat concluded by noting that his country imposed new sanctions on six individuals suspected of involvement in the ongoing atrocities and in fueling the conflict by supplying mercenaries and military equipment to Sudan.

France 24/AFP

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