UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk held Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and their allies fully responsible for a wave of "atrocities" in Al Fasher, describing the events as a "preventable human rights catastrophe."
Addressing the UN Human Rights Council on Monday, Turk said that after 18 months of siege, starvation and bombardment, the RSF unleashed "intense violence" in the city, killing thousands and forcing tens of thousands to flee.
Survivors recounted mass killings, summary executions, sexual violence, torture, abductions for ransom and attacks on health care workers.
"The threat was clear, but warnings were not heeded. Responsibility for these atrocity crimes lies squarely with the RSF and their allies and supporters," Turk said.
"The international community must do better. If we stand by, wringing our hands while armies and armed groups commit well-flagged international crimes, we can only expect worse to come," he added.
Turk, who recently visited Sudan and eastern Chad, said his office had interviewed more than 140 victims and witnesses.
Survivors described systematic sexual violence, the targeting of non-Arab ethnic groups, and horrific scenes, including piles of bodies along roads leading out of the city.
Children were reportedly recruited by the RSF and thousands of civilians remain missing, detained in inhumane conditions, or transferred to prisons such as Tagris in South Darfur.
The UN rights chief also warned that similar violations may occur in Sudan's Kordofan region, where fighting has intensified following the fall of Al Fasher.
His office documented some 90 civilian deaths and 142 injuries in just over two weeks due to drone strikes by both the RSF and Sudanese Armed Forces.
Turk emphasised that international action is urgently needed, including extending the arms embargo on Darfur to all of Sudan, protecting civilians, ending attacks on civilian infrastructure and supporting local mediation efforts.
The High Commissioner will provide a more extensive update on Sudan to the Human Rights Council on February 26.
The conflict between the Sudanese army and the RSF, which erupted in April 2023, has killed thousands of people and displaced millions.
