UN rights head claims more than 700 people have been killed in the siege of al-Fashir in Sudan

The U.N. human rights chief said Friday that more than 700 people had been killed in al-Fashir in Sudan’s North Darfur province since May and pleaded with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces to end the siege of the city.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said in a statement that the siege and “the relentless fighting are devastating lives every day on a massive scale.”

“This worrying state of affairs cannot go on. This terrible siege must be lifted by the Rapid Support Forces.

Citing information based in part on interviews with residents who had evacuated the region, the U.N. rights agency said it has recorded at least 782 civilian deaths and over 1,143 injuries since May. According to the report, the deaths occurred during frequent and heavy RSF shelling of residential areas with a high population density and frequent airstrikes by the Sudanese Armed Forces.

The U.N. human rights office stated that such assaults on people might qualify as war crimes. Both sides have denied on numerous occasions that they intentionally attacked people in al-Fashir and the surrounding area, although they have accused one another of doing so.

For almost 18 months, the RSF and Sudan’s army have been engaged in combat, resulting in a severe humanitarian catastrophe that has forced over 12 million people from their homes and made it difficult for U.N. organizations to provide aid.

The Sudanese army and its allies are battling for a final foothold in the Darfur region, and one of the most active frontlines between them and the RSF is Al-Fashir. As was the case in West Darfur last year, observers worry that an RSF win there might result in ethnic retaliation.

According to locals, the RSF struck the main hospital earlier this month, killing at least nine people.

Over the past two weeks, RSF artillery shelling has also forced thousands of civilians to evacuate the nearby Zamzam camp, where experts say a famine is affecting a population of over half a million.