UN mission claims violations were perpetrated by both sides in Sudan; peacekeepers are required

A U.N.-mandated panel stated on Friday that both sides in Sudan’s civil war have engaged in acts that may qualify as war crimes, and that in order to protect civilians, international powers must expand the arms embargo and send in peacekeepers.

The report claimed to be based on 182 interviews with survivors, family, and witnesses and detailed the rape, attacks, use of torture, and arbitrary arrests committed by Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) against civilians.

The head of the U.N. fact-finding mission, Mohamed Chande Othman, told reporters, “The gravity of our findings and failure of the warring parties to protect civilians underscores the need for urgent and immediate intervention.”

Both parties have denied previous allegations made by rights organizations and the United States and have accused one another of abusing power. neither issued a statement in reaction to the report nor promptly replied to Friday’s calls for comment.

Othman and the other two mission members demanded the immediate deployment of an independent force.

Mission member Mona Rishmawi stated, “We cannot continue to watch people die in front of our eyes and do nothing about it.” She also mentioned the idea of a peacekeeping force under U.N. mandate.

The mission advocated for the extension of an arms embargo already in place by the United Nations, which only covers the western region of Darfur, where reports of thousands of ethnic massacres have been made. Fourteen of the eighteen states in the country have been affected by the conflict that began in Khartoum in April of last year.

REPORTS OF HUNDREDS OF RAPES

According to the mission, there were also good reasons to suspect that the RSF and its affiliated militias had perpetrated other war crimes, including as kidnapping women and forcing them into prostitution and recruiting minors as fighters.

Unnamed support groups had received allegations of over 400 rapes in the first year of the war, but mission member Joy Ngozi Ezeilo said the actual number was likely considerably higher.

“The rare brutality of this war will have a devastating and long-lasting psychological impact on children,” she warned.

The fact-finding team stated that it had made numerous attempts to get in touch with Sudanese officials but had received no response. Without providing any details, it stated that the RSF had requested to work with the mission.

Competition between the army and the RSF, which had previously shared power following a coup, erupted into open battle and marked the start of the conflict.

According to relief organizations, after 17 months of fighting, civilians in Sudan are facing rising starvation, widespread displacement, and disease.

Last month, U.S.-led mediators said that while they had obtained assurances from both sides during discussions in Switzerland to enhance access for humanitarian aid, the progress had been impeded by the Sudanese army’s absence from the talks.

This is the first report produced by the three-person mission after it was established in October 2023 in Geneva by the UN Human Rights Council.

At a meeting this month, a number of Western nations, including Britain, will demand its renewal; however, diplomats anticipate resistance from Sudan, which maintains that the conflict is a domestic matter.