Sudan is a powder keg, High Commissioner Türk warns Human Rights Council

Mr. Vice President, Excellencies, Distinguished colleagues,

I cannot overstate the seriousness of the situation in Sudan; the desperate plight of the Sudanese people; and the urgency with which we must act to ease their suffering.

Since the armed conflict began in 2023, a devastating human rights crisis has generated the world’s largest humanitarian catastrophe.

More than six hundred thousand people are on the brink of starvation. Famine is reported to have taken hold in five areas, including Zamzam displacement camp in North Darfur, where the World Food Programme has just been forced to suspend its lifesaving operations due to intense fighting.

Five more areas could face famine in the next three months, and a further 17 are at risk. My own staff have heard harrowing testimonies of death from starvation in Khartoum and Omdurman.

An estimated 8.8 million people have been forced from their homes to camps and other locations within Sudan, and 3.5 million more have fled across borders. This is the biggest displacement crisis in the world. Some 30.4 million people need assistance, from healthcare to food and other forms of humanitarian support. Less than 30 per cent of hospitals and clinics are still working, and outbreaks of disease are rampant in displacement camps.

We are looking into the abyss. Humanitarian agencies warn that without action to end the war, deliver emergency aid, and get agriculture back on its feet, hundreds of thousands of people could die.

The Sudanese people have endured unfathomable suffering and pain since the conflict began, with no peaceful solution in sight. It is impossible to imagine the torment of children who have lost their parents, wives and husbands who have lost their partners, people who have lost everything and are searching for food, water, and safety under constant shelling and bombardment.

This horrific situation is the result of grave and flagrant violations of international humanitarian and human rights law, and a culture of utter impunity.

The report I am presenting today illustrates the scope of these violations and underscores why accountability is a matter of life and death.

Mr. President,

Since the reporting period ended late last year, the parties to the conflict have continued to launch indiscriminate and direct attacks using explosive weapons with wide-area effects on densely populated areas, including IDP camps, markets and schools.

Following a series of attacks attributed to the Rapid Support Forces around Al Qetina in White Nile State last week, there were shocking reports of hundreds of people killed, and others raped and abducted.

Hospitals and schools have been hit repeatedly. Three World Food Programme staff were killed in an airstrike in Blue Nile State in December.

My Office has documented many reports of summary executions of civilians. People have been attacked on the basis of who they are, often building on past divisions along ethnic and tribal lines. Hate speech and incitement to violence are increasing tensions and polarization.

As the fighting has spread across the country, appalling levels of sexual violence have followed. More than half of reported rape incidents took the form of gang rape – an indication that sexual violence is being used as a weapon of war. Cases of sexual violence were vastly under-reported because of stigma, fear of reprisal, and the collapse of medical and judicial institutions.

Child recruitment by both parties and their allied militias is driven in part by poverty and school closures. In some cases, children joined the fighting to protect their families.

Civic space is shrinking, while arbitrary detention puts civil society, journalists and human rights defenders at risk of torture and ill-treatment. At least 12 journalists were killed during the reporting period, including two who were in detention.

Some of the acts documented in the report may constitute war crimes and other atrocity crimes.

Mr. President,

In May last year, I spoke personally with Lt-General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, President of the Transitional Sovereignty Council and Commander of the Sudanese Armed Forces, and General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, Commander of the Rapid Support Forces, and warned them that the fighting was having a catastrophic impact on civilians and would deepen intercommunal conflict, with disastrous humanitarian consequences.

I renew my calls on them to engage in negotiations and mediation efforts towards an immediate cessation of hostilities; to take effective measures to protect civilians, end sexual violence and the recruitment and use of children; and ensure the safe passage of humanitarian relief and humanitarian aid workers to all areas.

And I call on the international community to make coordinated diplomatic efforts towards finding a path to peace.

Accountability is critical to breaking the recurring cycles of violence and impunity in Sudan and preventing further violations and abuses.

All violations and abuses must be investigated by independent and impartial investigation mechanisms, in line with international standards.

Mr. President,

Sudan is a powder keg, on the verge of a further explosion into chaos, and at increasing risk of atrocity crimes and mass deaths from famine.

Despite continued mediation efforts, Sudan is at a political stalemate while the bloodshed continues unabated. The danger of escalation has never been higher. Recent moves towards establishing a governing authority in areas under RSF control are likely to further entrench divisions and the risk of continued hostilities.

There is an intense struggle for control of natural resources, strategic assets, and economic interests, leading both parties to seek regional and international alliances to sustain the war economy.

Sudan’s location at the crossroads of several sub-regions means this conflict poses a serious threat to peace and stability in the Horn of Africa, the Sahel, and beyond.

The continued supply of weapons from outside the country – including new and more advanced arms – also poses a serious risk.

We need urgent action now, to find a path to peace.

All countries must use their influence to apply diplomatic and political pressure on the parties, and their regional and international allies, towards a ceasefire, the effective protection of civilians, and the unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid.

They must also ensure compliance with the arms embargo on Darfur, while considering its expansion to cover the whole country.

We must move towards an inclusive dialogue that reflects the diversity of the people of Sudan and paves the way for a transition to a civilian-led Government that responds to the aspirations of the Sudanese people.

We must do much, much better for the people of Sudan.

Thank you.

For more information and media requests, please contact:

In Geneva

Liz Throssell - + 41 22 917 9296 / elizabeth.throssell@un.org or
Seif Magango: +41 79 752 0488 / seif.magango@un.org