Sudan: UN warns of rights violations ‘verging on pure evil’ amid escalating conflict

The United Nations has warned of soaring rights violations in Darfur region in western Sudan amid escalating fighting between the army and paramilitaries, with a senior UN official describing the violence against civilians as “verging on pure evil”.

At least half of Sudan’s population is dire need of humanitarian aid after nearly seven months of destruction, said Toby Harward, the UN’s deputy humanitarian coordinator for Darfur, as witnesses describe a grim scene in the streets and a deteriorating humanitarian crisis. For example, more than 800 people have been killed by armed groups in one area in West Darfur that has so far been less affected by the conflict, according to reports cited by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR). The UNHCR also voiced alarm at reports of continued sexual violence, torture, arbitrary killings and extortion of civilians in the region.

“We keep saying that the situation is horrific and grim. But frankly, we are running out of words to describe the horror of what is happening in Sudan,” said Clementine Nkweta-Salami, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Sudan. The UN is now targeting about 12 million people for aid and has appealed for another $2.6 billion. Fears are mounting that the horrors of Darfur two decades ago are returning, as people from the region who have fled to neighboring Chad telling stories of ethnically driven killings taking place in West Darfur where the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are about to take its control entirely from the Sudanese army.