UN demands RSF halt ‘imminent offensive’ in Sudan

KHARTOUM

The United Nations has called on Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitaries to halt their “imminent offensive” on the strategic Sudanese city of El-Obeid, warning of catastrophic consequences for civilians.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is “alarmed” by reports of the RSF deploying substantial military reinforcements around El-Obeid “which may indicate an imminent ground offensive on the city,” his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

This is “potentially placing yet another major population center in Sudan at grave risk of large-scale violence,” he said.

“Stop this madness,” said U.N. rights chief Volker Türk, following reports of the troop build-up, as well as intensified drone strikes and artillery shelling.

Sudan’s conflict erupted in April 2023 between the regular army and the RSF.

El-Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan state, sits along a key route linking RSF-held areas in the western Darfur region to army-controlled regions in the east.

For months, El-Obeid has been partially encircled by paramilitary forces, in what Türk’s office described as siege-like conditions.

Türk said an imminent offensive risked serious crimes being committed, as well as deepening the catastrophic impact on the civilian population.

“We have seen this playbook before,” Turk explained in a statement.

He said the world cannot “allow a repeat of the preventable atrocities” documented during RSF offensives on the city of El-Fasher and the Zamzam displaced persons camp in North Darfur state last year.

The U.N.’s independent fact-finding mission on Sudan in February concluded that the siege and capture of El-Fasher had inflicted “three days of absolute horror” and bore “the hallmarks of genocide.”

The conflict in Sudan has killed tens of thousands of people and forced more than 11 million from their homes, creating what the U.N. describes as the world’s largest displacement and hunger crises.