Both of Sudan's warring sides guilty of atrocities, finds UN mission
Both sides in Sudan's war have committed a range of human rights violations and crimes that may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, a United Nations fact-finding mission has said.
The UN's independent international fact finding mission for Sudan published its first report on Friday.
It found that the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), as well as their respective allies, were responsible for large-scale violations.
That include indiscriminate air strikes and shelling of schools, hospitals, communication networks and water and electricity supplies.
Both parties had targeted civilians in attacks, as well as through rape and other forms of sexual violence, arbitrary detention, torture and ill treatment.
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According to the report, such violations could amount to war crimes.
It found reasonable grounds to conclude that the RSF and its allied militias had committed the war crimes of rape, sexual slavery and pillage, in addition to forcibly displacing civilian populations and recruiting children below the age of 15 to partake in hostilities.
The RSF has carried out brutal assaults against non-Arab communities, particularly against the Masalit ethnic community near El Geneina in West Darfur, which has included rape, killings, torture and the destruction of property.
The fact-finding mission reported that the RSF and its allies had likely committed several crimes against humanity, including murder, torture, enslavement, rape and other forms of sexual violence.
“The gravity of these findings underscores the urgent and immediate action to protect civilians,” said Mohamed Chande Othman, Chair of the Fact-Finding Mission.
“Given the failure of the warring parties to spare civilians, it is imperative that an independent and impartial force with a mandate to safeguard civilians be deployed without delay,” Othman said.
“The protection of the civilian population is paramount, and all parties must comply with their obligations under international law and immediately and unconditionally cease all attacks on the civilian population.”
The report was mandated by the Human Rights Council in October last year, and drew from probes carried out between January and August.
The mission included visits to Chad, Kenya and Uganda, as well as 182 first-hand testimonies from survivors, family members and eyewitnesses.
It recommended an arms embargo throughout all of Sudan, warning that those supplying weapons may be complicit in grave violations of humanitarian law.
It also called for Sudanese authorities to cooperate with the International Criminal Court, including by surrendering indicted former long-time ruler Omar al-Bashir.
“The international community must support the Sudanese aspiration for an inclusive and representative civilian government that respects the rights of all citizens,” Othman said. “This support is essential for fostering a path toward equality, justice, and sustainable peace in Sudan.”
The war, which broke out in April last year, has displaced 8 million people and wounded and killed tens of thousands of civilians, according to the UN.
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