The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, on Thursday called for urgent measures to prevent ethnically motivated crimes in El Fasher, North Darfur, amid intensified attacks by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on the city.
RSF fighters continue to abduct women and execute civilians fleeing the city, while also bombing shelters within El Fasher after having destroyed livelihoods, water sources, health facilities, and markets in the city they have besieged since April 2024.
In a statement, Türk urged “immediate action to prevent large-scale attacks and heinous ethnically motivated crimes in El Fasher as RSF forces intensify their offensive to control the besieged city.”
He explained that his appeal is based on reports of severe violence against civilians, including summary executions, torture, abductions, and looting, warning of the risk of repeating ethnically motivated violations similar to those seen during the RSF assault on Zamzam camp, where systematic sexual violence was perpetrated against women and girls of the Zaghawa ethnic group.
During its control of Zamzam camp, located approximately 12 kilometers southwest of El Fasher, the RSF committed a range of violations, including killings, forced displacement, and ethnic targeting.
Türk stressed the importance of ensuring safe and voluntary passage for civilians fleeing El Fasher along main exit routes and checkpoints controlled by various armed factions.
“After more than 500 days of continuous siege and ongoing fighting, El Fasher stands on the brink of a larger catastrophe unless urgent measures are taken to ease the city’s armed stranglehold and protect civilians,” he said.
Türk reported that 91 civilians were killed in El Fasher between September 19 and 29 due to artillery shelling, drone attacks, and ground incursions by RSF forces.
He noted that these actions, along with repeated attacks on civilian infrastructure, are being used to forcibly displace residents from El Fasher, including those in Abu Shouk IDP camp north of the city.
Türk said that Al-Darajah neighborhood, which hosts IDPs from Abu Shouk, has been repeatedly targeted, including two drone strikes on a market last week and a previous drone attack on a mosque on September 19 that killed at least 67 civilians.
He revealed that on September 30, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights received credible reports indicating that at least 23 civilians were killed when a community kitchen in Abu Shouk was hit by shells.
The attack on the kitchen, amid dwindling basic supplies and skyrocketing prices, threatens to further erode what remains of the population’s right to food.
“The situation is exacerbated by the RSF’s ongoing arbitrary restrictions on the delivery of food and essential supplies, coupled with credible reports of civilians being tortured or killed by RSF fighters while attempting to access these goods,” Türk added.
He called on all parties to immediately allow unhindered humanitarian access to the city and stressed the need to protect remaining civilians in El Fasher, including those unable to leave, such as the elderly, disabled, and chronically ill.
Türk reiterated the call for the immediate lifting of the siege and for unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid, underscoring the responsibility of the RSF and armed groups controlling checkpoints along exit routes to ensure civilians’ safe and voluntary passage.
