United Nations/Prensa Latina
The UN-appointed Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for Sudan on Friday called for an arms embargo in the country, denouncing the total impunity with which rival forces act in the conflict.
In a report released here, experts collected testimonies of large-scale, indiscriminate and direct aggression, including airstrikes and bombings targeting civilians, schools, hospitals, communication networks and vital supplies of water and electricity.
This context, they warned, indicates a total disregard for the protection of non-combatants.
According to the report – the first produced by the rapporteurs – responsibility for serious violations lies with both parties and their respective allies, many of which constitute international crimes.
The Independent Mission was established in October 2023 by the UN Human Rights Council to review the status of fundamental guarantees amid the ongoing conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Although the Sudanese government refused to cooperate with the panel, which included three rapporteurs, it was able to gather first-hand testimonies from 182 survivors, relatives and eyewitnesses.
They also conducted extensive consultations with experts and civil society activists to corroborate and verify additional leads, the document said.
Officials reported the expansion of hostilities in densely populated areas through constant attacks and artillery shelling in different cities, including Khartoum and different cities in Darfur. In particular, RSF members have perpetrated large-scale sexual violence in attacks on cities in the Darfur region and the Khartoum metropolitan area, said Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, one of the members of the Mission.
“The victims reported being attacked in their homes, beaten, whipped and threatened with death or harm to their family members or children before being raped by more than one attacker,” she said. Testimonies collected also reported sexual violence as the victims sought refuge from the attacks or fled, while other evidence indicated that the women were subjected to sexual slavery after being abducted by RSF members.
The report called on the Organization to create a peacekeeping force for Sudan, detailing ethnically-based attacks against non-Arab civilians and the recruitment of children into the armed forces.
“The United Nations can do this, and in the neighbouring country, South Sudan, there is a mandate to protect civilians in certain countries,” they stressed.
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