Following the El Fasher catastrophe in Sudan, the UN Human Rights Office fears that the violations that followed 18 months of siege in that Darfur city will find a new echo in the Kordofan region, where fighting is intensifying.
Without drawing a direct parallel, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) calls for vigilance and accountability to prevent history from repeating itself.
In a session of Human Rights Council of the UN body dedicated to the conflict in Sudan, in Geneva, the official responsible for overseeing the human rights Volker Türk, speaking globally, warned of the risks of a repeat of this wave of intense violence, during which thousands of people were killed in a few days and tens of thousands more fled in terror.
Although the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and their allies lifted the sieges of Kadugli and Dilling, two cities in South Kordofan, in the last two weeks, Drone attacks continue from both sidescausing "dozens of deaths and injuries among civilians."
"These latter are exposed to summary executions, sexual violence, arbitrary detentions and separation from their families," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk told member states.
According to documents compiled by the Office, in just over two weeks, up to February 6, Approximately 90 civilians were killed and 142 were wounded. in drone attacks carried out by the FAS and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitaries.
These attacks affected a convoy of World Food Program (WFP), markets, health facilities and residential neighborhoods in southern and northern Kordofan.
People who recently fled the fighting in and around El Fasher are waiting for help in Tawila, in Sudan's North Darfur state.
The violence in Kordofan revives the tragedy of El Fasher
These acts of violence in Kordofan rekindle, within the Human Rights Council, the still-fresh memory of the tragedy of the fasherIf the contexts differ, the Office situates its current alert within the continuity of a recent drama, whose scars remain open.
Since his last intervention regarding El Fasher, the High Commissioner visited the area to gather accounts from survivors of the final offensive. His teams interviewed more than 140 victims and witnesses in Northern State and eastern Chad.
"They all recounted massacres and summary executions of civilians and people who were no longer involved in the hostilities, both within the city and among those fleeing. They spoke of rape and other sexual violence, torture and ill-treatment, arrests, disappearances, and kidnappings for ransom," Türk described.
In one particularly horrific example, people who fled to locations thousands of kilometers away gave consistent accounts of the massacre of hundreds of people who had sought refuge at El Fasher University. Others reported attacks on health facilities and healthcare professionals.
A destroyed tank in Khartoum.
Apocalyptic scenario
These accounts, gathered from survivors scattered throughout the region, paint a consistent picture of extreme violence. Through corroborating testimonies, the description of the El Fasher massacres expands to include other atrocities, directed against civilians, healthcare facilities, and, according to several survivors, against groups based on their ethnicity.
“We have heard compelling testimonies that some victims were targeted because of their non-Arab ethnicity, particularly members of the Zaghawa ethnic group. Survivors also reported seeing piles of corpses along the roads leading to El Fasher.” an apocalyptic scenario that one person compared to Judgment Day«Türk declared.
These scenes of massacres and ethnic persecution are compounded by another chapter of atrocities documented by the UN: the systematic use of sexual violence as a weapon of warSurvivors recounted "corresponding and harrowing testimonies about gang rapes and other sexual violence committed against women and girls."
People who have fled the fighting in El Fasher have set up camps in Tawila.
The UN calls for total arms control
These acts of violence are part of a climate of hatred carefully stokedwhere the rhetoric of the leaders legitimizes atrocities and inflames ethnic divisions.
Almost three years after the start of the war between rival military factions, the Office recalls that hate speech is often the catalyst for ethnic violence.
"Leaders use dehumanizing rhetoric against certain communities to justify atrocities, mobilize fighters, and deepen divisions."
In this context of hatred and violence, the UN urges the international community to act. beginning with strict arms control and an extended embargo on SudanThe aim is to extend the arms embargo in Darfur to all of Sudan.
"All influential states must do everything possible to promote local, regional and international mediation efforts, and to put pressure on those who benefit from this senseless war," the UN human rights chief insisted.