UN warns of drones and repression in El Obeid
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Radio Tamazuj
The UN International Fact-Finding Mission warns of drone attacks attributed to the Rapid Support Forces and arbitrary arrests in El Obeid, Sudan. Civilians, essential services and displacement sites remain exposed, it says in a report published on Wednesday.
Drone attacks attributed to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a Sudanese paramilitary group, and repression by forces linked to the Sudanese army are further exposing civilians in El Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan. The strikes have killed and injured civilians, damaged schools and sites hosting displaced people, and disrupted access to healthcare, electricity and water, according to a report published on Wednesday by the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for Sudan.
The city remains partly encircled by the RSF, exposing its residents to continuing violence and severe shortages. The mission says that security forces linked to the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) have meanwhile stepped up surveillance and arbitrary arrests. It warns that repeated attacks on residential neighbourhoods, schools and civilian infrastructure could constitute war crimes.
“The situation in El Obeid and its surroundings remains grave and the risk of atrocities is high,” said Mohamed Chande Othman, the mission’s chair. The mission is also investigating violence in Blue Nile State, a drone strike in Abyei that killed dozens of civilians, and attacks near the Sudan-Egypt border that killed dozens of artisanal miners.
The report accuses the SAF, the RSF and their allies of restricting humanitarian aid through attacks, administrative obstacles, militarisation and access restrictions. It comes a year after the RSF and its allies took El-Fasher and neighbouring areas, amid violence in which the UN mission had already identified characteristic signs of genocide. The warning follows drone strikes on power plants and deadly strikes in South Kordofan.
