The UN human rights chief said Friday that more than 700 people have been killed in al-Fashir in Sudan’s North Darfur state since May and pleaded with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces to end the siege.
The siege and “the relentless fighting are devastating lives every day on a massive scale,” according to a statement from Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
“This worrying state of affairs cannot go on. The Rapid Support Forces must lift this terrible siege.
Citing data derived in part from interviews with those who had left the area, the UN rights office reported that it had 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 UN human rights office stated that such assaults on civilians might qualify as war crimes. Both sides have denied on numerous occasions that they intentionally attacked civilians in al-Fashir and the surrounding area, but they have accused one another of doing so.
For over 18 months, the RSF and Sudan’s army have been engaged in combat, resulting in a severe humanitarian crisis that has forced over 12 million people from their homes and made it difficult for UN 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 victory there might result in ethnic retaliation.
According to locals, the RSF attacked the main hospital earlier this month, killing at least nine people.
Over the past two weeks, RSF artillery fire has also forced thousands of people to evacuate the nearby Zamzam camp, where experts say a famine is affecting a population of over half a million.
