Risk of genocide in Sudan ‘very high’: UN

In this June 22, 2019 file photo, a Sudanese soldier from the Rapid Support Forces or RSF, stands on his vehicle during a military-backed tribe's rally, in the East Nile province, Sudan. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)

Geneva, Switzerland -- The risk of genocide in Sudan’s devastating civil war remains “very high”, amid ongoing ethnically motivated attacks by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, a top UN official warned Monday.

Since April 2023, Sudan has been torn apart by a power struggle between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

The fighting has killed tens of thousands and displaced 13 million, including four million who fled abroad, triggering what the United Nations has called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

“Both parties have committed serious human rights violations,” said Virginia Gamba, a UN under secretary-general and acting special advisor to UN chief Antonio Guterres on the prevention of genocide.

“Of specific concern to my mandate is the continued and targeted attacks against certain ethnic groups, particularly in the Darfur and Kordofan regions,” she told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

She highlighted in particular that the RSF and allied armed Arab militias “continue to conduct ethnically motivated attacks against the Zaghawa, Masalit and Fur groups”.

“The risk of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sudan remains very high,” Gamba warned.

Her comments came after the top UN court last month threw out a case brought by Sudan against the United Arab Emirates over alleged complicity in genocide for allegedly supporting the RSF in the war -- accusations denied by the Emiratis.

The International Court of Justice said it “manifestly lacked” jurisdiction to rule on the case.