UN ‘deeply shocked’ by army strikes in North Darfur

UN "deeply shocked" by army strikes in North Darfur Keystone-SDA

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, said he is shocked after the Sudanese army bombed a market in a village in northern Darfur this week.

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According to information received by his office, hundreds of civilians were killed.

Among the victims, 13 were members of a single family, added the Austrian in Geneva on Wednesday. He called for those responsible to be prosecuted. Some of the wounded have died as a result of the extremely limited access to medical care due to the conflict.

“Civilians continue to be killed indiscriminately”, deplored Türk, despite his warnings and demands that the army and paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) protect them in accordance with international humanitarian law (IHL). People are being “mutilated” and abused “almost daily”, he added.

Another problem is that civilian infrastructures are still largely targeted by the parties to the conflict. The High Commissioner once again urged the parties to the conflict to desist from “unacceptable” attacks on civilians, which can amount to war crimes.

In almost two years of conflict, tens of thousands of people have been killed, including at least 4,300 civilians last year, according to the UN. Several regions are at risk of famine. The conflict has left around nine million people internally displaced and some 3.5 million refugees. Almost two-thirds of the population are in need of humanitarian assistance.

The International Fact-Finding Mission, which does not speak on behalf of the UN, has denounced acts amounting to crimes against humanity perpetrated by the RSF and war crimes attributed to the Sudanese army. According to a military official, the army inflicted further setbacks on the paramilitaries on Wednesday.

Translated from French by DeepL/mga

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