UN officials on Thursday alerted to “atrocities” being committed not only in Sudan’s Darfur region but also in neighboring Kordofan, as the conflict intensifies.
UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher told the Security Council that the city of El‑Fasher – the last major Darfur city not yet under the control of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) – has become “an even darker hell, with credible information of mass executions” after the RSF’s entry.
“We cannot hear the cries, but while we sit here, the horror continues. Women and girls are raped, people are mutilated and killed, with impunity,” Fletcher said.
“Fierce fighting in North Kordofan is triggering new waves of displacement and threatening the humanitarian response, including around the capital El-Obeid,” Fletcher added.
Also speaking was Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee, UN Under-Secretary-General for Africa, who said that “At least 50 civilians have been killed in Bara, in North Kordofan, in the past few days because of the fighting and by summary executions. This includes the summary execution of five Red Crescent volunteers.”
She warned that Kordofan “is likely to be the next theatre of military operations for the belligerents.”
The conflict – ongoing since April 2023 between Sudan’s regular army and the RSF – has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and the displacement of millions, according to UN and local estimates.
