Published On 14/11/2025
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Last update: 11:43 (Mecca time)
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, said on Friday that Sudan is “caught in a proxy war fought to control its natural resources,” warning that the atrocities that occurred in the city of El Fasher represent “the most serious and foreseeable crimes that could have been prevented.”
Turk added in his statements that the Rapid Support Forces’ control of El Fasher was followed by ethnic-based executions, mass rapes, and kidnappings, as well as arbitrary arrests and repeated attacks on medical facilities, describing what was happening as “shocking atrocities.”
He considered that the international community “pretends interest but does little” regarding the extent of the atrocities committed there.
The UN official called for taking direct measures against individuals and companies that he said were fueling the war in Sudan and benefiting from it, stressing that the country is “stuck in a proxy war whose goal is to control natural resources.”
Turk strongly warned of the escalation of violence in the Kordofan region, where several areas are being bombed and besieged, and residents are being forced to leave their homes, in light of accelerating humanitarian deterioration.
He stressed that the Human Rights Office is monitoring the situation on the ground, sending a message to all parties to the conflict in Sudan by saying: “We are watching you.”
These statements come hours before the Human Rights Council voted, in a special session in Sudan, on a draft resolution condemning the violations that it said were committed by the Rapid Support Forces in El Fasher and its environs following their recent attack on the city.
Project and condemnation
The draft resolution – a copy of which was obtained by Al Jazeera – condemns what was described as widespread atrocities reported, including, according to the text of the draft, ethnically motivated killings, torture, field executions, arbitrary arrests, rape, and more.
The Council requests the fact-finding mission to conduct an urgent investigation into the violations in El Fasher and its surroundings by all parties, and to identify those believed to be responsible for the violations.
The draft resolution denounces all forms of external interference, which it said fuel the conflict, and calls on all parties internally and externally to respect Sudan’s unity and territorial integrity. It also calls for facilitating immediate and unhindered access to humanitarian aid, and ensuring the protection of civilians under international law, including allowing those wishing to leave El Fasher.
Since April 2023, Sudan has witnessed a military conflict between the army and the Rapid Support Forces, which has led to the deaths of tens of thousands and the displacement of about 13 million people, in addition to the exacerbation of a humanitarian crisis described as one of the worst in the world.