Ruibao International | Updated July 3, 2026

The United Nations human rights chief warned on July 3 that Sudan’s central city of El Obeid was showing signs of possible mass atrocities. About half a million people remain in the city. The warning came two days after Amnesty International accused the Rapid Support Forces of war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing during the fall of El Fasher in North Darfur.

Volker Türk told an urgent debate at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva that the warning signs around El Obeid were “clear and unequivocal”. He urged governments to act to prevent atrocity crimes in El Obeid and other parts of Kordofan.

El Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan, sits on routes linking central Sudan, Darfur and the road toward Khartoum. The Associated Press, citing the UN, said civilians there had lived for 18 months under conditions resembling a siege, with drone attacks and shortages of food, fuel, water, medical supplies and transport.

Sudan’s war erupted in April 2023 after a power struggle between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, turned into open conflict. UN figures cited by AP say the war has killed at least 59,000 people, displaced about 13 million and left more than 30 million in need of humanitarian assistance. Sudan’s army broke the siege of El Obeid in February 2025; the RSF has since tried to close in on the city from several directions.

The Human Rights Council is considering a draft resolution sponsored by Britain, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands and Norway. The draft condemns the RSF and allied forces for escalating violence around El Obeid, calls for more support to countries hosting Sudanese refugees, and rejects foreign interference in the war.

Amnesty International said on July 1 that RSF fighters committed murder, torture, rape, enslavement and sexual slavery during and after the capture of El Fasher in October 2025. The group said the acts amounted to war crimes, with some reaching the threshold of crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing.

El Fasher was the capital of North Darfur and the army’s last major foothold in the region. The RSF entered the city after an 18-month siege. AP, citing Amnesty and UN material, reported that more than 6,000 people were killed in the three days after the city fell in October 2025. A UN-backed fact-finding mission had earlier said the abuses in El Fasher bore hallmarks of genocide.

Amnesty said its report was based on 247 interviews, including 208 survivors, and on video, documents and satellite imagery. It named three RSF commanders it said should be held responsible for serious violations of international law. The RSF did not immediately respond to the allegations. It has previously acknowledged that some members violated discipline in El Fasher, while denying or playing down the scale of atrocities.

The RSF grew out of the Janjaweed militias accused of mass killings during the Darfur war in the 2000s. Rights groups and UN investigators say attacks in and around El Fasher often targeted non-Arab communities, including the Zaghawa and Fur.

Aid groups say communications blackouts, blocked roads and insecurity have prevented many deaths from being recorded quickly. The death toll in El Fasher is still being investigated. Around El Obeid, the UN is pressing the parties to allow humanitarian access and protect civilian routes out of the fighting.

Source note: This report draws on Associated Press reporting on the El Obeid warning, AP reporting on Amnesty International’s El Fasher report, The Guardian’s coverage of the Amnesty report, and public material from the UN human rights office and Amnesty International. Casualty figures are current public estimates from the UN and rights groups and may be undercounts because of communications outages and lack of access.